Humanverse

Franchot vs Frank

American parents have registered 920,589 Franks since 1880, against 223 Franchots. Frank is still ahead, with 584 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Franchot against Frank, 1880 to 2025 0 5k 10k 15k 20k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Franchot Frank

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

Frank has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1972, when Franchot had 12 and Frank had 5,208.

Side by side

  Franchot Frank
Total US births 223920,589
Most in one year 2117,089
Babies in 2025 under 5584
Estimated living today 140343,000
Median age today 5962
Peak year 19361918
Best rank 1,463rd boys9th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked513th
First recorded 19341880
Girls / boys 0 / 2234,611 / 915,978

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 Franks alive today are over 62; half the Franchots are over 59. That is 3 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: Franchot and Frank.