Humanverse

Sean vs Seavy

American parents have registered 426,606 Seans since 1880, against 6 Seavys. Sean is still ahead, with 623 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Sean against Seavy, 1880 to 2025 0 4k 8k 12k 16k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Sean Seavy

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

Sean has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1925 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1937, when Sean had 13 and Seavy had 6.

Side by side

  Sean Seavy
Total US births 426,6066
Most in one year 12,0706
Babies in 2025 623under 5
Estimated living today 398,0001
Median age today 3788
Peak year 19901937
Best rank 37th boys3,175th boys
Rank in 2025 489thunranked
First recorded 19251937
Girls / boys 2,969 / 423,6370 / 6

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 Seavys alive today are over 88; half the Seans are over 37. That is 51 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: Sean and Seavy.