Humanverse

Patrecia vs Patricia

American parents have registered 1,578,584 Patricias since 1880, against 614 Patrecias. Patricia is still ahead, with 167 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Patrecia against Patricia, 1880 to 2025 0 15k 30k 45k 60k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Patrecia Patricia

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

Patricia has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1884 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1922, when Patrecia had 13 and Patricia had 3,910.

Side by side

  Patrecia Patricia
Total US births 6141,578,584
Most in one year 2656,574
Babies in 2025 under 5167
Estimated living today 3401 million
Median age today 7470
Peak year 19511951
Best rank 1,921st girls3rd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked1,334th
First recorded 19191884
Girls / boys 614 / 01,573,623 / 4,961

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 Patrecias alive today are over 74; half the Patricias are over 70. 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: Patrecia and Patricia.