Humanverse

Tallie vs Talmadge

American parents have registered 5,671 Talmadges since 1880, against 673 Tallies. But in 2025 it was Tallie that was commoner, 11 babies to 8.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Tallie against Talmadge, 1880 to 2025 0 50 100 150 200 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Tallie Talmadge

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 134 years in which either name was published, Talmadge for 119 years and Tallie for 15 years. The lead changed hands 13 times.

8 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

  Tallie Talmadge
Total US births 6735,671
Most in one year 29173
Babies in 2025 118
Estimated living today 5202,100
Median age today 2559
Peak year 19721933
Best rank 2,451st girls411th boys
Rank in 2025 8,860th8,910th
First recorded 18901886
Girls / boys 561 / 11236 / 5,635

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 Talmadges alive today are over 59; half the Tallies are over 25. That is 34 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: Tallie and Talmadge.