Head to head · Girls' names
Makenna vs Paris
#593 vs #592 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Paris is a whisker ahead (#592 vs #593 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Paris leads 4 measures of 6; Makenna leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1910s: Makenna —, Paris #3555 — Paris higher
- 1920s: Makenna —, Paris #4003 — Paris higher
- 1930s: Makenna —, Paris #3772 — Paris higher
- 1940s: Makenna —, Paris #3570 — Paris higher
- 1950s: Makenna —, Paris #2629 — Paris higher
- 1960s: Makenna —, Paris #1481 — Paris higher
- 1970s: Makenna —, Paris #1863 — Paris higher
- 1980s: Makenna #5232, Paris #989 — Paris higher
- 1990s: Makenna #1076, Paris #490 — Paris higher
- 2000s: Makenna #240, Paris #359 — Makenna higher
- 2010s: Makenna #282, Paris #297 — Makenna higher
- 2020s: Makenna #459, Paris #486 — Makenna higher
Paris stood higher in 9 of 12 decades; Makenna has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Makenna | Paris |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | — | #3555 |
| 1920s | — | #4003 |
| 1930s | — | #3772 |
| 1940s | — | #3570 |
| 1950s | — | #2629 |
| 1960s | — | #1481 |
| 1970s | — | #1863 |
| 1980s | #5232 | #989 |
| 1990s | #1076 | #490 |
| 2000s | #240 | #359 |
| 2010s | #282 | #297 |
| 2020s | #459 | #486 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Makenna
"son of Cionaodh," from the Irish surname Mac Cionaoith
The surname layer is clear enough: Mac Cionaoith means "son of Cionaodh." What Cionaodh itself means is where scholars part ways — one reading takes it as cion, "love" or "affection," joined to Aodh, the old Irish name tied to fire; another simply glosses the whole thing as "born of fire" through Aodh alone. Both readings are seriously held, and neither has won.
Aodh → Cionaodh → Mac Cionaoith → McKenna → Makenna
How it traveled
The name begins as a patronymic in Ireland — Mac Cionaoith, borne by a family long associated with Truagh in County Monaghan — and traveled with Irish emigrants into English-speaking records as McKenna. In the late twentieth century American parents began using Irish and Scottish Mac- surnames as girls' first names, and McKenna moved with that current.
Paris
Not established
Nobody has settled a meaning for this one, and both of its roads end the same way. The city is named for the Parisii, a Gaulish people whose own tribal name has never been convincingly translated — the Roman town on that site was called Lutetia first. The Trojan prince's name in Greek, Πάρις, is older than Greek itself and resists translation too. What the record gives is ownership and place, not a definition.
Parisii (Gaulish people) → Latin Parisius → Old French Paris → English Paris
How it traveled
The oldest Paris is the Trojan prince of Homer's Iliad, and the name traveled into medieval Europe with him — it appears on English records in the Middle Ages as a man's name and hardened into a surname. The city carries a separate history: a Roman settlement called Lutetia in the territory of the Parisii, which in late Roman and early medieval usage came to be called by the tribe's name instead.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Makenna
muh-KEN-uh
Stress falls on the middle syllable. The first is a light, unstressed muh — not "may" — which is the one thing occasionally worth correcting.
- Kenna — The most common short form, and a standalone given name in its own right in US records.
- Mak — Informal, often written Mack; used among friends and on teams.
- Kenny — Informal and playful; also long established as a boy's name, so it reads as a nickname rather than a name.
- Mackie — Informal, family-level; sometimes spelled Makky.
- Also Ken.
Paris
PAIR-iss
PAIR-iss throughout the English-speaking world, stress on the first syllable. The French pronounce the city's name pa-REE, and some families enjoy that version; both are understood, but the English form is what a US classroom will default to.
- Pari — Informal, mostly family use; also stands alone as a given name in Persian.
- P — Initial-only, informal — the kind of thing friends and teammates land on.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Makenna if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsMakenna is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itMakenna runs 3 syllables, Paris 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Kenna, Mak and Kenny
Choose Paris if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesParis is 2 syllables to Makenna's 3
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Makenna
Strengths
- Spelling and sound match, so it survives being said aloud over a phone better than the McKenna and Mackenna forms.
- Comes with Kenna ready-made — a short form that also stands alone as a given name, giving a formal and an informal option from day one.
- Sits inside a sound family Americans already know from Mackenzie and McKenna, so it is grasped instantly even by people meeting it for the first time.
To consider
- It competes with McKenna, Mackenna, Mckenna and Makena, so expect to spell it out fairly often — the payoff is that your version needs no explaining once written.
- Surname-into-first-name is a distinctly recent American naming habit, and the sound sits with a particular cohort. It reads modern rather than timeless, which some parents want and some don't.
- The meaning is honest but layered: it comes through a family name, not a word, and the root behind that family name has never been settled. If a clear one-line meaning matters to you, this one will always need a paragraph.
Paris
Strengths
- Spelled the way everyone already spells it — one of the few names you almost never have to repeat, clarify or correct.
- Recognized in nearly every language on earth, which travels well across borders and family lines.
- Two clean syllables with the stress up front; sits easily beside long surnames and short ones alike.
To consider
- It is inseparable from the city. Expect a lifetime of remarks about the Eiffel Tower, croissants and whether she's been — friendly, mostly, but constant.
- The name's rise and its current easing back both track a very visible American celebrity of the early 2000s. For people who remember that era, the association is still the first one they reach for.
- In Homer, Paris is a man — the prince who left with Helen and helped start the war. In the US the spelling reads as a girl's name without confusion, but the classical figure is a mixed literary godparent.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Makenna and Paris in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Makenna and Paris?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
Where Makenna and Paris each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Makenna or Paris — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Makenna or Paris?
- Paris, in 2025: Paris ranked #592 with 497 babies; Makenna ranked #593 with 495 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Makenna or Paris?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Makenna moved down 191 places; Paris moved down 176 places.
- Which is the older name, Makenna or Paris?
- Makenna entered the US charts in 1982; Paris entered the US charts in 1917. On the American record, Paris is the older name.
- How many people are named Makenna and Paris?
- About 33,500 people named Makenna are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 33,000 people named Paris are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Makennas or Pariss in the classroom?
- Makenna will almost certainly be the only one in school. Paris will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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