Humanverse

Greg vs Grethe

American parents have registered 77,849 Gregs since 1880, against 7 Grethes. Greg is still ahead, with 21 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Greg Grethe

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

Greg has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1915 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1932, when Greg had 9 and Grethe had 7.

Side by side

  Greg Grethe
Total US births 77,8497
Most in one year 5,4097
Babies in 2025 21under 5
Estimated living today 61,0001
Median age today 6293
Peak year 19611932
Best rank 77th boys3,568th girls
Rank in 2025 4,707thunranked
First recorded 19151932
Girls / boys 143 / 77,7067 / 0

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 Grethes alive today are over 93; half the Gregs are over 62. That is 31 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: Greg and Grethe.