Humanverse

Johnluke vs Johnny

American parents have registered 321,696 Johnnys since 1880, against 648 Johnlukes. Johnny is still ahead, with 690 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Johnluke 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 2024, when Johnluke had 41 and Johnny had 695.

Side by side

  Johnluke Johnny
Total US births 648321,696
Most in one year 487,497
Babies in 2025 39690
Estimated living today 640216,000
Median age today 858
Peak year 20171947
Best rank 2,597th boys49th boys
Rank in 2025 3,089th457th
First recorded 19911880
Girls / boys 0 / 6483,778 / 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 Johnlukes are over 8. That is 50 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: Johnluke and Johnny.