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Jonah vs Jontae

American parents have registered 86,075 Jonahs since 1880, against 1,055 Jontaes. Jonah is still ahead, with 2,867 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Jonah Jontae

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

Jonah 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 1989, when Jonah had 266 and Jontae had 36.

Side by side

  Jonah Jontae
Total US births 86,0751,055
Most in one year 2,99845
Babies in 2025 2,86711
Estimated living today 84,0001,000
Median age today 1426
Peak year 20082007
Best rank 136th boys2,868th boys
Rank in 2025 128th7,194th
First recorded 18801976
Girls / boys 792 / 85,283179 / 876

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 Jontaes alive today are over 26; half the Jonahs are over 14. That is 12 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Jonah and Jontae.