Humanverse

Johnie vs Johnney

American parents have registered 26,074 Johnies since 1880, against 1,122 Johnneys. Johnie is still ahead, with 15 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Johnie Johnney

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 2004, when Johnie had 14 and Johnney had 7.

Side by side

  Johnie Johnney
Total US births 26,0741,122
Most in one year 85434
Babies in 2025 15under 5
Estimated living today 4,900560
Median age today 6964
Peak year 19201947
Best rank 190th boys1,252nd boys
Rank in 2025 7,679thunranked
First recorded 18801912
Girls / boys 5,144 / 20,9300 / 1,122

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 Johnneys are over 64. That is 5 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: Johnie and Johnney.