Humanverse

Hamilton vs Hamp

American parents have registered 6,517 Hamiltons since 1880, against 1,076 Hamps. Hamilton is still ahead, with 38 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Hamilton against Hamp, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Hamilton Hamp

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 146 years in which either name was published, Hamilton for 138 years and Hamp for 8 years. The lead changed hands 10 times.

Side by side

  Hamilton Hamp
Total US births 6,5171,076
Most in one year 9827
Babies in 2025 38under 5
Estimated living today 4,100220
Median age today 3072
Peak year 20161920
Best rank 1,628th boys1,416th boys
Rank in 2025 3,128thunranked
First recorded 18801880
Girls / boys 0 / 6,5170 / 1,076

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 Hamps alive today are over 72; half the Hamiltons are over 30. That is 42 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: Hamilton and Hamp.