Humanverse

Jonathan vs Jonmichael

American parents have registered 874,440 Jonathans since 1880, against 1,419 Jonmichaels. Jonathan is still ahead, with 3,827 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Jonathan against Jonmichael, 1880 to 2025 0 8k 16k 24k 32k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Jonathan Jonmichael

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

Jonathan 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 1985, when Jonathan had 24,297 and Jonmichael had 79.

Side by side

  Jonathan Jonmichael
Total US births 874,4401,419
Most in one year 24,51379
Babies in 2025 3,8275
Estimated living today 817,0001,400
Median age today 3435
Peak year 19881985
Best rank 15th boys1,033rd boys
Rank in 2025 89th12,008th
First recorded 18801970
Girls / boys 3,574 / 870,8660 / 1,419

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.

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: Jonathan and Jonmichael.