Humanverse

Patriciaann vs Patsy

American parents have registered 127,161 Patsys since 1880, against 369 Patriciaanns. Patsy is still ahead, with 20 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Patriciaann against Patsy, 1880 to 2025 0 1.3k 2.5k 3.8k 5k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Patriciaann Patsy

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

Patsy 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 1983, when Patriciaann had 8 and Patsy had 87.

Side by side

  Patriciaann Patsy
Total US births 369127,161
Most in one year 224,868
Babies in 2025 under 520
Estimated living today 27061,000
Median age today 7177
Peak year 19421941
Best rank 1,804th girls52nd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked5,917th
First recorded 19381880
Girls / boys 369 / 0119,448 / 7,713

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 Patsys alive today are over 77; half the Patriciaanns are over 71. That is 6 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: Patriciaann and Patsy.