Humanverse

Garen vs Garret

American parents have registered 13,252 Garrets since 1880, against 1,220 Garens. But in 2025 it was Garen that was commoner, 18 babies to 11.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Garen against Garret, 1880 to 2025 0 150 300 450 600 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Garen Garret

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 117 years in which either name was published, Garret for 115 years and Garen for 2 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Garen Garret
Total US births 1,22013,252
Most in one year 30590
Babies in 2025 1811
Estimated living today 1,10012,000
Median age today 2730
Peak year 20142000
Best rank 3,532nd boys420th boys
Rank in 2025 5,208th7,194th
First recorded 19411881
Girls / boys 12 / 1,2085 / 13,247

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 Garrets alive today are over 30; half the Garens are over 27. That is 3 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: Garen and Garret.