Humanverse

Gerald vs Gerren

American parents have registered 451,351 Geralds since 1880, against 590 Gerrens. Gerald is still ahead, with 168 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Gerald against Gerren, 1880 to 2025 0 3k 6k 9k 12k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Gerald Gerren

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

Gerald 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 2009, when Gerald had 396 and Gerren had 30.

Side by side

  Gerald Gerren
Total US births 451,351590
Most in one year 11,52148
Babies in 2025 168under 5
Estimated living today 218,000560
Median age today 6739
Peak year 19421983
Best rank 22nd boys1,347th boys
Rank in 2025 1,204thunranked
First recorded 18801976
Girls / boys 2,385 / 448,96638 / 552

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 Geralds alive today are over 67; half the Gerrens are over 39. 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: Gerald and Gerren.