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Jerek vs Jeremiah

American parents have registered 226,373 Jeremiahs since 1880, against 504 Jereks. Jeremiah is still ahead, with 3,849 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Jerek against Jeremiah, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Jerek Jeremiah

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

Jeremiah 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 1994, when Jerek had 15 and Jeremiah had 2,090.

Side by side

  Jerek Jeremiah
Total US births 504226,373
Most in one year 247,756
Babies in 2025 under 53,849
Estimated living today 490215,000
Median age today 2218
Peak year 20132010
Best rank 4,064th boys51st boys
Rank in 2025 unranked88th
First recorded 19791880
Girls / boys 0 / 504699 / 225,674

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 Jereks alive today are over 22; half the Jeremiahs are over 18. That is 4 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: Jerek and Jeremiah.