Mark vs Marycatherine

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Mark Marycatherine

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

Mark 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 1914, when Mark had 394 and Marycatherine had 7.

Side by side

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 Marks alive today are over 59; half the Marycatherines are over 28. That is 31 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

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• Marycatherine vs Mary