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Johnbenedict vs Johnnie

American parents have registered 151,295 Johnnies since 1880, against 14 Johnbenedicts. Johnnie is still ahead, with 103 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Johnbenedict against Johnnie, 1880 to 2025 0 800 1.6k 2.4k 3.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Johnbenedict Johnnie

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

Johnnie 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 Johnnie had 181.

Side by side

  Johnbenedict Johnnie
Total US births 14151,295
Most in one year 142,996
Babies in 2025 under 5103
Estimated living today 1459,000
Median age today 2068
Peak year 20051928
Best rank 5,578th boys103rd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked2,284th
First recorded 20051880
Girls / boys 0 / 1449,196 / 102,099

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 Johnnies alive today are over 68; half the Johnbenedicts are over 20. That is 48 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 Johnnie.