Humanverse

Rosebud vs Ross

American parents have registered 82,293 Rosses since 1880, against 738 Rosebuds. Ross is still ahead, with 122 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Rosebud Ross

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

Ross 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 1904, when Rosebud had 11 and Ross had 73.

Side by side

  Rosebud Ross
Total US births 73882,293
Most in one year 391,898
Babies in 2025 under 5122
Estimated living today 8056,000
Median age today 8243
Peak year 19211985
Best rank 1,237th girls147th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked1,459th
First recorded 18881880
Girls / boys 738 / 0421 / 81,872

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 Rosebuds alive today are over 82; half the Rosses are over 43. That is 39 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: Rosebud and Ross.