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Ross vs Rosser

American parents have registered 82,293 Rosses since 1880, against 148 Rossers. Ross is still ahead, with 122 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Ross Rosser

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 1901, when Ross had 72 and Rosser had 5.

Side by side

  Ross Rosser
Total US births 82,293148
Most in one year 1,8989
Babies in 2025 122under 5
Estimated living today 56,00020
Median age today 4378
Peak year 19851917
Best rank 147th boys2,732nd boys
Rank in 2025 1,459thunranked
First recorded 18801901
Girls / boys 421 / 81,8720 / 148

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 Rossers alive today are over 78; half the Rosses are over 43. That is 35 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: Ross and Rosser.