Humanverse

Garen vs Garth

American parents have registered 9,666 Garths since 1880, against 1,220 Garens. But in 2025 it was Garen that was commoner, 18 babies to 8.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Garen against Garth, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Garen Garth

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, Garth for 98 years and Garen for 19 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Garen Garth
Total US births 1,2209,666
Most in one year 30268
Babies in 2025 188
Estimated living today 1,1006,400
Median age today 2755
Peak year 20141954
Best rank 3,532nd boys444th boys
Rank in 2025 5,208th8,910th
First recorded 19411906
Girls / boys 12 / 1,2080 / 9,666

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 Garths alive today are over 55; half the Garens are over 27. That is 28 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 Garth.