Humanverse

Jimmey vs Jimmy

American parents have registered 290,955 Jimmys since 1880, against 904 Jimmeys. Jimmy is still ahead, with 291 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Jimmey Jimmy

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

Jimmy has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1883 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1920, when Jimmey had 12 and Jimmy had 337.

Side by side

  Jimmey Jimmy
Total US births 904290,955
Most in one year 367,938
Babies in 2025 under 5291
Estimated living today 490186,000
Median age today 6561
Peak year 19461947
Best rank 1,157th boys44th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked846th
First recorded 19191883
Girls / boys 0 / 9042,218 / 288,737

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 Jimmeys alive today are over 65; half the Jimmys are over 61. 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: Jimmey and Jimmy.