Humanverse

Jr vs Jru

American parents have registered 1,729 Jrs since 1880, against 1,083 Jrus. But in 2025 it was Jru that was commoner, 159 babies to 24.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Jr against Jru, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Jr Jru

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

Of the 95 years in which either name was published, Jr for 85 years and Jru for 10 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Jr Jru
Total US births 1,7291,083
Most in one year 43159
Babies in 2025 24159
Estimated living today 1,3001,100
Median age today 233
Peak year 19892025
Best rank 1,766th boys1,514th boys
Rank in 2025 4,249th1,514th
First recorded 19152013
Girls / boys 0 / 1,729244 / 839

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 Jrs alive today are over 23; half the Jrus are over 3. That is 20 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: Jr and Jru.