Humanverse

Gurney vs Gurshaan

American parents have registered 790 Gurneys since 1880, against 214 Gurshaans. But in 2025 it was Gurshaan that was commoner, 7 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Gurney against Gurshaan, 1880 to 2025 0 8 16 24 32 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Gurney Gurshaan

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 84 years in which either name was published, Gurney for 64 years and Gurshaan for 20 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Gurney Gurshaan
Total US births 790214
Most in one year 2620
Babies in 2025 under 57
Estimated living today 190210
Median age today 7412
Peak year 19282010
Best rank 1,448th boys4,678th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked9,714th
First recorded 18902005
Girls / boys 0 / 7900 / 214

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 Gurneys alive today are over 74; half the Gurshaans are over 12. That is 62 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: Gurney and Gurshaan.