Humanverse

Jeremy vs Jerlene

American parents have registered 448,737 Jeremys since 1880, against 924 Jerlenes. Jeremy is still ahead, with 1,152 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Jeremy against Jerlene, 1880 to 2025 0 6k 12k 18k 24k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Jeremy Jerlene

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 108 years in which either name was published, Jeremy for 92 years and Jerlene for 16 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Jeremy Jerlene
Total US births 448,737924
Most in one year 21,74938
Babies in 2025 1,152under 5
Estimated living today 422,000440
Median age today 4077
Peak year 19771947
Best rank 15th boys1,525th girls
Rank in 2025 292ndunranked
First recorded 19231915
Girls / boys 2,312 / 446,425924 / 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 Jerlenes alive today are over 77; half the Jeremys are over 40. That is 37 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Jeremy and Jerlene.