Humanverse

Jerry vs Jersen

American parents have registered 632,416 Jerrys since 1880, against 21 Jersens. Jerry is still ahead, with 262 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Jerry against Jersen, 1880 to 2025 0 5k 10k 15k 20k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Jerry Jersen

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

Jerry 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 2015, when Jerry had 603 and Jersen had 21.

Side by side

  Jerry Jersen
Total US births 632,41621
Most in one year 19,26321
Babies in 2025 262under 5
Estimated living today 367,00020
Median age today 6610
Peak year 19472015
Best rank 20th boys4,545th boys
Rank in 2025 906thunranked
First recorded 18802015
Girls / boys 17,314 / 615,1020 / 21

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 Jerrys alive today are over 66; half the Jersens are over 10. That is 56 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: Jerry and Jersen.