Humanverse

Judea vs Judy

American parents have registered 384,073 Judys since 1880, against 637 Judeas. Judy is still ahead, with 105 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Judea Judy

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

Judy 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 2024, when Judea had 36 and Judy had 125.

Side by side

  Judea Judy
Total US births 637384,073
Most in one year 3621,073
Babies in 2025 24105
Estimated living today 630265,000
Median age today 1373
Peak year 20241947
Best rank 4,669th girls14th girls
Rank in 2025 6,546th1,872nd
First recorded 19841880
Girls / boys 485 / 152382,979 / 1,094

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 Judys alive today are over 73; half the Judeas are over 13. That is 60 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: Judea and Judy.