In late November, a woman called out Southwest Airlines after claiming that their agent mocked her daughter’s name, Abcde, when they were preparing to board a flight home from Texas.

In case you’re wondering, Abcde in this case is actually pronounced “Ab-si-dee."

Following that conflict, a viral meme began circling the internet, claiming that there were actually 328 people named Abcde in the United States.

THE QUESTION:

Is that post correct? Are there actually 328 Abcde’s in the United States? How can that be measured?

THE ANSWER:

Turns out there are more Abcde’s than that!

There are actually at least 373 Abcde’s in the United States right now. The number 328 was accurate in 2014 when an article about the occurrences was posted by Vocativ.

WHAT WE FOUND:

The Social Security Administration published data on baby names in the U.S. all the way back to 1880.

Any name that has at least five occurrences in the country is listed. Starting in 1990, Abcde began making the list. While there have been a few years with no babies named Abcde listed, the grand total up to 2018 was at least 373.

We wrote at least, because it’s possible the number is a bit higher when you account for years that could have had less than five Abcde’s born.

While outdated, the original 328 number in this post isn’t necessarily wrong. The only source posting this information previously was a Vocativ article from 2014 that used the available Social Security numbers at the time.

Meaning in the last 4 years, at least 45 babies have been born and named Abcde in the United States.

If you’re curious to look at the Social Security date yourself you can find it here. Fair warning: there are nearly two million different names in the lists.