Farrell vs Farris
American parents have registered 4,827 Farrells since 1880, against 3,538 Farrises. But in 2025 it was Farris that was commoner, 11 babies to fewer than five.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Farrell Farris
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 126 years in which either name was published, Farrell for 76 years and Farris for 50 years. The lead changed hands 26 times.
- 1897–1924 Farris ahead, apart from 2 short spells
- 1927–1989 Farrell ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1999–2001 Farris ahead
- 2002–2006 Farrell ahead
- 2009–2025 Farris ahead, apart from one short spell
18 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Farrell | Farris | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 4,827 | 3,538 |
| Most in one year | 99 | 72 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 11 |
| Estimated living today | 2,600 | 1,700 |
| Median age today | 58 | 46 |
| Peak year | 1935 | 1923 |
| Best rank | 589th boys | 913th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 7,194th |
| First recorded | 1902 | 1897 |
| Girls / boys | 472 / 4,355 | 547 / 2,991 |
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 Farrells alive today are over 58; half the Farrises are over 46. That is 12 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Farrell Utah (12.2×), Idaho (9.9×), Louisiana (9.5×)
- Farris Georgia (11.1×), Tennessee (8.7×), Kentucky (6.2×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Both names abroad
Countries whose statistics office publishes both names, so the comparison can be made somewhere other than the United States.
| Country | Farrell | Farris |
|---|---|---|
| England and Wales | 204 | 140 |
Every spelling a country files separately is added together, over whatever years that country publishes — which is not the same range in any two of them, so read the columns against each other and not the rows.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Farrell and Farris.