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Shon vs Shoso

American parents have registered 5,530 Shons since 1880, against 7 Shosos. Shon is still ahead, with 9 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Shon against Shoso, 1880 to 2025 0 100 200 300 400 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Shon Shoso

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

Of the 75 years in which either name was published, Shon for 74 years and Shoso for 1 year. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Shon Shoso
Total US births 5,5307
Most in one year 3297
Babies in 2025 9under 5
Estimated living today 5,0000
Median age today 5097
Peak year 19711928
Best rank 469th boys3,357th boys
Rank in 2025 8,243rdunranked
First recorded 19501928
Girls / boys 358 / 5,1720 / 7

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 Shosos alive today are over 97; half the Shons are over 50. That is 47 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: Shon and Shoso.