Humanverse

Robertha vs Robyn

American parents have registered 64,604 Robyns since 1880, against 548 Roberthas. Robyn is still ahead, with 159 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Robertha against Robyn, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Robertha Robyn

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 114 years in which either name was published, Robyn for 92 years and Robertha for 22 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Robertha Robyn
Total US births 54864,604
Most in one year 201,907
Babies in 2025 under 5159
Estimated living today 19059,000
Median age today 7450
Peak year 19211964
Best rank 1,988th girls195th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked1,436th
First recorded 19051921
Girls / boys 548 / 063,364 / 1,240

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 Robyns are over 50. That is 24 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: Robertha and Robyn.