Burke vs Burnette
American parents have registered 4,188 Burkes since 1880, against 998 Burnettes. Burke is still ahead, with 49 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Burke Burnette
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 120 years in which either name was published, Burke for 107 years and Burnette for 13 years. The lead changed hands 14 times.
- 1881–1915 Burke ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1916–1920 Burnette ahead
- 1924–2025 Burke ahead, apart from 4 short spells
7 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Burke | Burnette | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 4,188 | 998 |
| Most in one year | 79 | 35 |
| Babies in 2025 | 49 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 3,200 | 360 |
| Median age today | 26 | 72 |
| Peak year | 2013 | 1923 |
| Best rank | 1,827th boys | 1,520th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 2,641st | unranked |
| First recorded | 1881 | 1906 |
| Girls / boys | 70 / 4,118 | 764 / 234 |
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 Burnettes alive today are over 72; half the Burkes are over 26. That is 46 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: Burke and Burnette.