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Johnae vs Johnathan

American parents have registered 98,611 Johnathans since 1880, against 724 Johnaes. Johnathan is still ahead, with 594 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Johnae against Johnathan, 1880 to 2025 0 1k 2k 3k 4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Johnae Johnathan

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

Johnathan has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1881 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2002, when Johnae had 45 and Johnathan had 2,269.

Side by side

  Johnae Johnathan
Total US births 72498,611
Most in one year 473,253
Babies in 2025 under 5594
Estimated living today 72094,000
Median age today 2329
Peak year 19981990
Best rank 2,798th girls108th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked508th
First recorded 19841881
Girls / boys 724 / 0349 / 98,262

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 Johnathans alive today are over 29; half the Johnaes are over 23. That is 6 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: Johnae and Johnathan.