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Prentice vs Prescott

American parents have registered 3,992 Prentices since 1880, against 1,887 Prescotts. But in 2025 it was Prescott that was commoner, 90 babies to 6.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Prentice against Prescott, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Prentice Prescott

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 128 years in which either name was published, Prentice for 108 years and Prescott for 20 years. The lead changed hands 9 times.

Side by side

  Prentice Prescott
Total US births 3,9921,887
Most in one year 6090
Babies in 2025 690
Estimated living today 2,4001,500
Median age today 4924
Peak year 19392017
Best rank 784th boys2,493rd boys
Rank in 2025 10,695th2,941st
First recorded 18841913
Girls / boys 63 / 3,929169 / 1,718

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 Prentices alive today are over 49; half the Prescotts are over 24. That is 25 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: Prentice and Prescott.