Burke vs Burnett
American parents have registered 4,188 Burkes since 1880, against 1,843 Burnetts. Burke is still ahead, with 49 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Burke Burnett
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 128 years in which either name was published, Burke for 82 years and Burnett for 46 years. The lead changed hands 20 times.
- 1885–1950 Burnett ahead, apart from 3 short spells
- 1954–2025 Burke ahead, apart from one short spell
15 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Burke | Burnett | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 4,188 | 1,843 |
| Most in one year | 79 | 53 |
| Babies in 2025 | 49 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 3,200 | 580 |
| Median age today | 26 | 70 |
| Peak year | 2013 | 1920 |
| Best rank | 1,827th boys | 1,073rd boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 2,641st | unranked |
| First recorded | 1881 | 1882 |
| Girls / boys | 70 / 4,118 | 282 / 1,561 |
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 Burnetts alive today are over 70; half the Burkes are over 26. That is 44 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Burke and Burnett.