Humanverse

Keri vs Kersten

American parents have registered 32,386 Keris since 1880, against 918 Kerstens. Keri is still ahead, with 14 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Keri against Kersten, 1880 to 2025 0 400 800 1.2k 1.6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Keri Kersten

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

Keri has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1946 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2004, when Keri had 74 and Kersten had 18.

Side by side

  Keri Kersten
Total US births 32,386918
Most in one year 1,51746
Babies in 2025 14under 5
Estimated living today 31,000890
Median age today 4633
Peak year 19751997
Best rank 174th girls2,695th girls
Rank in 2025 7,491stunranked
First recorded 19461963
Girls / boys 32,061 / 325918 / 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 Keris alive today are over 46; half the Kerstens are over 33. That is 13 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: Keri and Kersten.