Humanverse

Garnell vs Garrett

American parents have registered 136,214 Garretts since 1880, against 505 Garnells. Garrett is still ahead, with 526 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Garnell against Garrett, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Garnell Garrett

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

Garrett 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 1922, when Garnell had 20 and Garrett had 93.

Side by side

  Garnell Garrett
Total US births 505136,214
Most in one year 205,850
Babies in 2025 under 5526
Estimated living today 260128,000
Median age today 6328
Peak year 19642000
Best rank 2,114th boys74th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked564th
First recorded 19121880
Girls / boys 99 / 406452 / 135,762

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 Garnells alive today are over 63; half the Garretts are over 28. That is 35 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: Garnell and Garrett.