Humanverse

Johnie vs Johnnye

American parents have registered 26,074 Johnies since 1880, against 879 Johnnyes. Johnie is still ahead, with 15 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Johnie Johnnye

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 1947, when Johnie had 213 and Johnnye had 31.

Side by side

  Johnie Johnnye
Total US births 26,074879
Most in one year 85431
Babies in 2025 15under 5
Estimated living today 4,900260
Median age today 6978
Peak year 19201935
Best rank 190th boys1,307th girls
Rank in 2025 7,679thunranked
First recorded 18801907
Girls / boys 5,144 / 20,930843 / 36

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 Johnnyes alive today are over 78; half the Johnies are over 69. That is 9 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 Johnnye.