Hooper vs Hoover
American parents have registered 1,127 Hoovers since 1880, against 123 Hoopers. But in 2025 it was Hooper that was commoner, 7 babies to fewer than five.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Hooper Hoover
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 62 years in which either name was published, Hoover for 47 years and Hooper for 15 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.
Side by side
| Hooper | Hoover | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 123 | 1,127 |
| Most in one year | 12 | 256 |
| Babies in 2025 | 7 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 90 | 190 |
| Median age today | 8 | 69 |
| Peak year | 1914 | 1928 |
| Best rank | 1,868th boys | 362nd boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 9,714th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1914 | 1913 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 123 | 7 / 1,120 |
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 Hoovers alive today are over 69; half the Hoopers are over 8. That is 61 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Hooper and Hoover.