Humanverse

Patricia vs Pattie

American parents have registered 1,578,584 Patricias since 1880, against 9,509 Patties. Patricia is still ahead, with 167 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Patricia Pattie

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 146 years in which either name was published, Patricia for 129 years and Pattie for 17 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Patricia Pattie
Total US births 1,578,5849,509
Most in one year 56,574291
Babies in 2025 167under 5
Estimated living today 1 million4,800
Median age today 7067
Peak year 19511958
Best rank 3rd girls584th girls
Rank in 2025 1,334thunranked
First recorded 18841880
Girls / boys 1,573,623 / 4,9619,504 / 5

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 Patricias alive today are over 70; half the Patties are over 67. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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