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Rockford vs Rocky

American parents have registered 29,134 Rockys since 1880, against 710 Rockfords. Rocky is still ahead, with 563 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Rockford against Rocky, 1880 to 2025 0 250 500 750 1k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Rockford Rocky

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

Rocky has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1913 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1917, when Rockford had 6 and Rocky had 7.

Side by side

  Rockford Rocky
Total US births 71029,134
Most in one year 20920
Babies in 2025 10563
Estimated living today 59024,000
Median age today 3946
Peak year 19791957
Best rank 2,379th boys252nd boys
Rank in 2025 7,679th568th
First recorded 19171913
Girls / boys 0 / 710447 / 28,687

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 Rockys alive today are over 46; half the Rockfords are over 39. That is 7 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Rockford and Rocky.