Humanverse

Rochel vs Rockey

American parents have registered 4,023 Rochels since 1880, against 941 Rockeys. Rochel is still ahead, with 147 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Rochel against Rockey, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Rochel Rockey

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 85 years in which either name was published, Rochel for 59 years and Rockey for 26 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Rochel Rockey
Total US births 4,023941
Most in one year 14751
Babies in 2025 147under 5
Estimated living today 3,900720
Median age today 1861
Peak year 20251957
Best rank 1,458th girls1,063rd boys
Rank in 2025 1,458thunranked
First recorded 19471924
Girls / boys 4,023 / 00 / 941

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 Rockeys alive today are over 61; half the Rochels are over 18. That is 43 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: Rochel and Rockey.