Humanverse

Raeford vs Raegan

American parents have registered 25,492 Raegans since 1880, against 613 Raefords. Raegan is still ahead, with 594 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Raeford against Raegan, 1880 to 2025 0 400 800 1.2k 1.6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Raeford Raegan

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 110 years in which either name was published, Raegan for 62 years and Raeford for 48 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Raeford Raegan
Total US births 61325,492
Most in one year 211,417
Babies in 2025 under 5594
Estimated living today 21025,000
Median age today 7212
Peak year 19412019
Best rank 1,485th boys219th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked505th
First recorded 19141956
Girls / boys 0 / 61325,214 / 278

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 Raefords alive today are over 72; half the Raegans are over 12. That is 60 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: Raeford and Raegan.