Humanverse

Johndavid vs Johnny

American parents have registered 321,696 Johnnys since 1880, against 1,265 Johndavids. Johnny is still ahead, with 690 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Johndavid Johnny

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

Johnny 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 Johnny had 690.

Side by side

  Johndavid Johnny
Total US births 1,265321,696
Most in one year 437,497
Babies in 2025 36690
Estimated living today 1,200216,000
Median age today 2158
Peak year 20071947
Best rank 2,765th boys49th boys
Rank in 2025 3,240th457th
First recorded 19671880
Girls / boys 0 / 1,2653,778 / 317,918

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 Johnnys alive today are over 58; half the Johndavids are over 21. That is 37 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 Johnny.