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Mosby vs Moshe

American parents have registered 18,038 Moshes since 1880, against 14 Mosbys. Moshe is still ahead, with 728 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Mosby against Moshe, 1880 to 2025 0 200 400 600 800 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Mosby Moshe

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 85 years in which either name was published, Moshe for 84 years and Mosby for 1 year. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Mosby Moshe
Total US births 1418,038
Most in one year 9728
Babies in 2025 under 5728
Estimated living today 517,000
Median age today 915
Peak year 19202025
Best rank 2,967th boys435th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked435th
First recorded 19201942
Girls / boys 0 / 1421 / 18,017

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 Moshes alive today are over 15; half the Mosbys are over 9. That is 6 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: Mosby and Moshe.