Humanverse

Kerry vs Kert

American parents have registered 98,644 Kerrys since 1880, against 229 Kerts. Kerry is still ahead, with 77 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kerry against Kert, 1880 to 2025 0 800 1.6k 2.4k 3.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kerry Kert

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

Kerry has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1920 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1943, when Kerry had 298 and Kert had 6.

Side by side

  Kerry Kert
Total US births 98,644229
Most in one year 3,12717
Babies in 2025 77under 5
Estimated living today 83,000180
Median age today 5559
Peak year 19601964
Best rank 158th boys1,975th boys
Rank in 2025 2,451stunranked
First recorded 19201943
Girls / boys 48,675 / 49,9690 / 229

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 Kerts alive today are over 59; half the Kerrys are over 55. That is 4 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: Kerry and Kert.