Humanverse

Ric vs Rick

American parents have registered 81,964 Ricks since 1880, against 1,270 Rics. Rick is still ahead, with 40 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Ric against Rick, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Ric Rick

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

Rick has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1919 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2012, when Ric had 8 and Rick had 82.

Side by side

  Ric Rick
Total US births 1,27081,964
Most in one year 555,467
Babies in 2025 under 540
Estimated living today 1,00062,000
Median age today 5964
Peak year 19581958
Best rank 1,026th boys77th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked3,036th
First recorded 19421919
Girls / boys 0 / 1,270135 / 81,829

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 Ricks alive today are over 64; half the Rics are over 59. That is 5 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: Ric and Rick.