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Romeo vs Romulo

American parents have registered 26,864 Romeos since 1880, against 842 Romulos. Romeo is still ahead, with 1,129 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Romeo against Romulo, 1880 to 2025 0 300 600 900 1.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Romeo Romulo

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

Romeo 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 1966, when Romeo had 44 and Romulo had 14.

Side by side

  Romeo Romulo
Total US births 26,864842
Most in one year 1,19118
Babies in 2025 1,1298
Estimated living today 24,000670
Median age today 1136
Peak year 20241993
Best rank 283rd boys3,501st boys
Rank in 2025 301st8,910th
First recorded 18801912
Girls / boys 0 / 26,8640 / 842

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 Romulos alive today are over 36; half the Romeos are over 11. That is 25 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: Romeo and Romulo.