Humanverse

Babe vs Babyboy

American parents have registered 2,291 Babyboys since 1880, against 728 Babes. Babyboy is still ahead, with 15 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Babe against Babyboy, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Babe Babyboy

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 97 years in which either name was published, Babe for 54 years and Babyboy for 43 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Babe Babyboy
Total US births 7282,291
Most in one year 33141
Babies in 2025 under 515
Estimated living today 602,200
Median age today 7826
Peak year 19151998
Best rank 1,738th girls977th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked5,861st
First recorded 18801983
Girls / boys 383 / 3450 / 2,291

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Babes alive today are over 78; half the Babyboys are over 26. That is 52 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Babe and Babyboy.