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Johnnie vs Johnthan

American parents have registered 151,295 Johnnies since 1880, against 792 Johnthans. Johnnie is still ahead, with 103 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Johnnie Johnthan

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 1991, when Johnnie had 330 and Johnthan had 36.

Side by side

  Johnnie Johnthan
Total US births 151,295792
Most in one year 2,99636
Babies in 2025 103under 5
Estimated living today 59,000740
Median age today 6836
Peak year 19281991
Best rank 103rd boys2,052nd boys
Rank in 2025 2,284thunranked
First recorded 18801954
Girls / boys 49,196 / 102,0990 / 792

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 Johnthans are over 36. That is 32 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: Johnnie and Johnthan.