COMPILED FROM THE FEDERAL REGISTERS, 1880 TO THE PRESENT
THE ENDANGERED NAMES LIST
American first names, tracked to the federal reporting line.

FROM THE REGISTER — LONG MISSING

Orval
A male given name · United States

BELOW THE FEDERAL REPORTING LINE SINCE 1996 — 30 YEARS

Orval (M): reported births per year080160240320400188019001920194019601980200020202025FEDERAL REPORTING LINE (5)PEAK 304 — 1918
Reported births per year, 1880–2025. The y-axis starts at zero. Years below the reporting line appear as gaps, not zeros.

Orville's plainer brother. Reported from 1880 to 1995, with a peak of 304 in 1918 and 7,916 births recorded in all. Nothing since 1995 — 30 years below the line, though a name last seen this recently has had less time to come back than the older vanished stock.

REGISTER EXTRACT
First reported1880
Last reported1995
Peak1918 — 304 births
Total recorded, 1880–20257,916
Years above the line110 of a possible 146
Longest absence30 years (1996–2025, ongoing)

Nearby in the register

Gussie

Long Missing · 1880–1991 · peak 1918

Adelbert

Long Missing · 1880–1995 · peak 1918

Squire

Long Missing · 1880–1997 · peak 1918

Verne

Long Missing · 1880–1990 · peak 1919

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national names file (1880–2025). Names below 5 occurrences in a year are not reported.

Somewhere, a grandmother is unsurprised.

A collection of THE MUSEUM OF HOPEFUL MACHINES