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Johnbenedict vs Johnie

American parents have registered 26,074 Johnies since 1880, against 14 Johnbenedicts. Johnie is still ahead, with 15 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Johnbenedict against Johnie, 1880 to 2025 0 250 500 750 1k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Johnbenedict Johnie

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

Johnie 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 2005, when Johnbenedict had 14 and Johnie had 15.

Side by side

  Johnbenedict Johnie
Total US births 1426,074
Most in one year 14854
Babies in 2025 under 515
Estimated living today 144,900
Median age today 2069
Peak year 20051920
Best rank 5,578th boys190th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked7,679th
First recorded 20051880
Girls / boys 0 / 145,144 / 20,930

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 Johnies alive today are over 69; half the Johnbenedicts are over 20. That is 49 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: Johnbenedict and Johnie.