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Burke vs Burr

American parents have registered 4,188 Burkes since 1880, against 803 Burrs. Burke is still ahead, with 49 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Burke against Burr, 1880 to 2025 0 20 40 60 80 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Burke Burr

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 136 years in which either name was published, Burke for 113 years and Burr for 23 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Burke Burr
Total US births 4,188803
Most in one year 7923
Babies in 2025 49under 5
Estimated living today 3,200170
Median age today 2671
Peak year 20131916
Best rank 1,827th boys1,459th boys
Rank in 2025 2,641stunranked
First recorded 18811880
Girls / boys 70 / 4,1180 / 803

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 Burrs alive today are over 71; half the Burkes are over 26. That is 45 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 Burr.