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Kathryn vs Kathrynn

American parents have registered 456,515 Kathryns since 1880, against 501 Kathrynns. Kathryn is still ahead, with 381 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kathryn against Kathrynn, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kathryn Kathrynn

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

Kathryn 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 2018, when Kathryn had 699 and Kathrynn had 14.

Side by side

  Kathryn Kathrynn
Total US births 456,515501
Most in one year 8,51716
Babies in 2025 381under 5
Estimated living today 315,000480
Median age today 4826
Peak year 19522006
Best rank 48th girls7,482nd girls
Rank in 2025 729thunranked
First recorded 18801926
Girls / boys 455,423 / 1,092501 / 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 Kathryns alive today are over 48; half the Kathrynns are over 26. That is 22 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: Kathryn and Kathrynn.