Humanverse

Jerek vs Jerome

American parents have registered 162,296 Jeromes since 1880, against 504 Jereks. Jerome is still ahead, with 158 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Jerek against Jerome, 1880 to 2025 0 800 1.6k 2.4k 3.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Jerek Jerome

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

Jerome 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 2013, when Jerek had 24 and Jerome had 294.

Side by side

  Jerek Jerome
Total US births 504162,296
Most in one year 243,129
Babies in 2025 under 5158
Estimated living today 49092,000
Median age today 2259
Peak year 20131954
Best rank 4,064th boys114th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked1,256th
First recorded 19791880
Girls / boys 0 / 5041,062 / 161,234

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 Jeromes alive today are over 59; half the Jereks are over 22. That is 37 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 Jerome.