Humanverse

Johndavid vs Johnnie

American parents have registered 151,295 Johnnies since 1880, against 1,265 Johndavids. Johnnie is still ahead, with 103 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Johndavid 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 2025, when Johndavid had 36 and Johnnie had 103.

Side by side

  Johndavid Johnnie
Total US births 1,265151,295
Most in one year 432,996
Babies in 2025 36103
Estimated living today 1,20059,000
Median age today 2168
Peak year 20071928
Best rank 2,765th boys103rd boys
Rank in 2025 3,240th2,284th
First recorded 19671880
Girls / boys 0 / 1,26549,196 / 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 Johndavids are over 21. That is 47 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Johndavid and Johnnie.