Humanverse

Robbie vs Robertha

American parents have registered 43,939 Robbies since 1880, against 548 Roberthas. Robbie is still ahead, with 120 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Robbie Robertha

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

Robbie 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 1905, when Robbie had 60 and Robertha had 6.

Side by side

  Robbie Robertha
Total US births 43,939548
Most in one year 1,28020
Babies in 2025 120under 5
Estimated living today 29,000190
Median age today 5874
Peak year 19571921
Best rank 425th girls1,988th girls
Rank in 2025 3,130thunranked
First recorded 18801905
Girls / boys 22,553 / 21,386548 / 0

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 Roberthas alive today are over 74; half the Robbies are over 58. That is 16 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: Robbie and Robertha.