Humanverse

James vs Jamica

American parents have registered 5,274,520 Jameses since 1880, against 801 Jamicas. James is still ahead, with 12,004 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

James Jamica

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

James 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 1993, when James had 26,334 and Jamica had 36.

Side by side

  James Jamica
Total US births 5,274,520801
Most in one year 95,02446
Babies in 2025 12,004under 5
Estimated living today 2.9 million770
Median age today 5840
Peak year 19471979
Best rank 1st boys2,147th girls
Rank in 2025 6thunranked
First recorded 18801971
Girls / boys 23,882 / 5,250,638801 / 0

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 Jameses alive today are over 58; half the Jamicas are over 40. That is 18 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: James and Jamica.