Today, we’re upending the traditional name order. Names are usually arranged alphabetically by first letters. We’re used to seeing them and evening thinking of them sorted by their beginnings.

Try it yourself. What would you guess is the all-time most popular American name starting with the letters ART-? Take a moment right now to think of possibilities, then read on.

Maybe you thought of the right answer (Arthur), and maybe not. But either way, the question probably felt straightforward. Now, try to guess the top name ending in -ART. The sorting is so unfamiliar it takes some mental gymnastics. But aren’t mental gymnastics fun?

The all-time top name ending in -ART turns out to be Stuart, as the NameGrapher “Compare” mode confirms:

I’ve identified the top all-time names with a dozen different endings. Can you guess the champions? (Ground rules: I tallied in the same way that the NameGrapher does, in occurrences per million American births in a given year, with each year from 1880-present given equal weight. Variant spellings and male and female versions of a given name are treated as separate.) Answers follow below.

Name Endings: Guess the All-Time Champions

1. -KER
2. -LAH
3. -REY
4. -INE
5. -ITY
6. -ORY
7. -ING
8. -BEL
9. -LEY
10. -RON
11. -ERY
12. -LES
    
    

ANSWERS

1. KER: Parker (M). Parker rules this surname-dominated ending by a large margin over Walker (M) and Tucker (M).

2. LAH: Beulah (F). The contemporary hit Delilah (F) will need some staying power to catch up with good old Beulah.

3. REY: Jeffrey (M). This is one of the more gender-balanced endings: the runners-up are Audrey (F), Corey (M) and Aubrey (F).

4. INE: Catherine (F). The name isn’t a surprise, but the spelling might be. The K version Katherine (F) takes second, followed by the top name with an “een” pronunciation, Josephine.

5. ITY: Trinity (F). This could change soon, as runner-up Serenity (F) is currently more popular.

6. ORY: Gregory (M). Gregory is the runaway winner, but tricky to think of because the -ory ending is unstressed and the nickname Greg is so prevalent.

7. ING: Irving (M). Irving is the only -ing name to rank among America’s top 100 names in any year, though King (M) came close in the 2010s.

8. BEL: Mabel (F). Isabel is a classic, but Mabel was once a powerhouse.

9. LEY: Shirley (F). This one’s a two-woman race: honorable mention if you guessed Ashley (F).

10. RON: Sharon (F). This is a mostly male ending, with #1 Sharon the huge exception. Masculine Aaron, Cameron, Byron and Myron round out the top 5.

11. ERY: Jeffery (M). No, not Jeffrey again, but “Jeffery.” The popular names of the 1950s and ‘60s were so huge that a non-standard spelling from that era beats out today’s hit Avery (F).

12. LES: Charles (M). Miles is considered a classic and is currently enjoying a big wave of popularity. Check out how that wave compares to an old standard like Charles.