Humanverse

Skip vs Skipper

American parents have registered 2,116 Skips since 1880, against 841 Skippers. Skip is still ahead, with 13 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Skip against Skipper, 1880 to 2025 0 30 60 90 120 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Skip Skipper

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, Skip for 73 years and Skipper for 2 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Skip Skipper
Total US births 2,116841
Most in one year 10533
Babies in 2025 1311
Estimated living today 1,600630
Median age today 6360
Peak year 19601962
Best rank 752nd boys1,367th boys
Rank in 2025 6,446th10,695th
First recorded 19301937
Girls / boys 0 / 2,11611 / 830

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 Skips alive today are over 63; half the Skippers are over 60. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Skip and Skipper.