Humanverse

Knut vs Knute

American parents have registered 691 Knutes since 1880, against 65 Knuts. Knute is still ahead, with 10 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Knut against Knute, 1880 to 2025 0 5 10 15 20 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Knut Knute

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

Of the 87 years in which either name was published, Knute for 83 years and Knut for 4 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Knut Knute
Total US births 65691
Most in one year 919
Babies in 2025 under 510
Estimated living today 40330
Median age today 5759
Peak year 19681931
Best rank 2,907th boys1,643rd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked7,679th
First recorded 19161880
Girls / boys 0 / 650 / 691

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 Knutes alive today are over 59; half the Knuts are over 57. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Knut and Knute.