Humanverse

Curren vs Curtiss

American parents have registered 5,074 Curtisses since 1880, against 642 Currens. But in 2025 it was Curren that was commoner, 18 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Curren 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 119 years in which either name was published, Curtiss for 95 years and Curren for 24 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Curren Curtiss
Total US births 6425,074
Most in one year 35126
Babies in 2025 18under 5
Estimated living today 6302,900
Median age today 1361
Peak year 20131959
Best rank 3,122nd boys681st boys
Rank in 2025 5,208thunranked
First recorded 19901896
Girls / boys 0 / 6420 / 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 Curtisses alive today are over 61; half the Currens are over 13. That is 48 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: Curren and Curtiss.