Humanverse

Johnetta vs Johnnie

American parents have registered 151,295 Johnnies since 1880, against 3,201 Johnettas. Johnnie is still ahead, with 103 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Johnetta 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 1985, when Johnetta had 45 and Johnnie had 383.

Side by side

  Johnetta Johnnie
Total US births 3,201151,295
Most in one year 692,996
Babies in 2025 under 5103
Estimated living today 2,30059,000
Median age today 5868
Peak year 19521928
Best rank 1,138th girls103rd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked2,284th
First recorded 18921880
Girls / boys 3,201 / 049,196 / 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 Johnettas are over 58. That is 10 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: Johnetta and Johnnie.