Humanverse

Kathyjo vs Katie

American parents have registered 241,784 Katies since 1880, against 129 Kathyjos. Katie is still ahead, with 447 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Kathyjo Katie

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

Katie 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 1970, when Kathyjo had 17 and Katie had 704.

Side by side

  Kathyjo Katie
Total US births 129241,784
Most in one year 178,371
Babies in 2025 under 5447
Estimated living today 120196,000
Median age today 5336
Peak year 19701986
Best rank 3,577th girls38th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked646th
First recorded 19521880
Girls / boys 129 / 0241,285 / 499

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 Kathyjos alive today are over 53; half the Katies are over 36. That is 17 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: Kathyjo and Katie.