Humanverse

Jack vs Jackjohn

American parents have registered 759,677 Jacks since 1880, against 20 Jackjohns. Jack is still ahead, with 8,754 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Jack against Jackjohn, 1880 to 2025 0 4k 8k 12k 16k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Jack Jackjohn

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

Jack has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1926, when Jack had 12,279 and Jackjohn had 8.

Side by side

  Jack Jackjohn
Total US births 759,67720
Most in one year 12,8848
Babies in 2025 8,754under 5
Estimated living today 419,0000
Median age today 2395
Peak year 19271926
Best rank 16th boys3,139th boys
Rank in 2025 15thunranked
First recorded 18801925
Girls / boys 2,734 / 756,9430 / 20

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 Jackjohns alive today are over 95; half the Jacks are over 23. That is 72 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: Jack and Jackjohn.