Humanverse

Jordan vs Jorley

American parents have registered 536,795 Jordans since 1880, against 35 Jorleys. Jordan is still ahead, with 3,235 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Jordan against Jorley, 1880 to 2025 0 6k 12k 18k 24k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Jordan Jorley

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

Jordan 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 2011, when Jordan had 9,734 and Jorley had 22.

Side by side

  Jordan Jorley
Total US births 536,79535
Most in one year 22,09422
Babies in 2025 3,235under 5
Estimated living today 521,00040
Median age today 2614
Peak year 19902011
Best rank 29th boys5,935th girls
Rank in 2025 131stunranked
First recorded 18802011
Girls / boys 135,599 / 401,19635 / 0

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 Jordans alive today are over 26; half the Jorleys 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: Jordan and Jorley.