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Curlie vs Curtiss

American parents have registered 5,074 Curtisses since 1880, against 532 Curlies. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Curlie Curtiss

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 112 years in which either name was published, Curtiss for 110 years and Curlie for 2 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Curlie Curtiss
Total US births 5325,074
Most in one year 23126
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 1502,900
Median age today 7861
Peak year 19261959
Best rank 2,076th girls681st boys
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19001896
Girls / boys 360 / 1720 / 5,074

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 Curlies alive today are over 78; half the Curtisses are over 61. That is 17 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: Curlie and Curtiss.