Chad vs Chalmers
American parents have registered 241,767 Chads since 1880, against 1,082 Chalmerses. Chad is still ahead, with 96 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Chad Chalmers
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 125 years in which either name was published, Chad for 90 years and Chalmers for 35 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.
Side by side
| Chad | Chalmers | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 241,767 | 1,082 |
| Most in one year | 13,441 | 38 |
| Babies in 2025 | 96 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 222,000 | 280 |
| Median age today | 46 | 69 |
| Peak year | 1972 | 1919 |
| Best rank | 25th boys | 1,122nd boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 1,699th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1914 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 1,039 / 240,728 | 0 / 1,082 |
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 Chalmerses alive today are over 69; half the Chads are over 46. That is 23 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Chad North Dakota (2.7×), South Dakota (2.7×), Iowa (2.5×)
- Chalmers South Carolina (35.9×), Pennsylvania (5.8×), North Carolina (5.4×)
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: Chad and Chalmers.