Holden vs Holmes
American parents have registered 32,795 Holdens since 1880, against 610 Holmeses. Holden is still ahead, with 1,146 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Holden Holmes
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 111 years in which either name was published, Holden for 63 years and Holmes for 48 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.
Side by side
| Holden | Holmes | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 32,795 | 610 |
| Most in one year | 1,757 | 24 |
| Babies in 2025 | 1,146 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 32,000 | 130 |
| Median age today | 11 | 72 |
| Peak year | 2018 | 1915 |
| Best rank | 217th boys | 1,372nd boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 297th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1902 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 288 / 32,507 | 0 / 610 |
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 Holmeses alive today are over 72; half the Holdens are over 11. That is 61 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: Holden and Holmes.