Humanverse

Talmadge vs Talmage

American parents have registered 5,671 Talmadges since 1880, against 2,281 Talmages. Talmadge is still ahead, with 8 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Talmadge Talmage

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 140 years in which either name was published, Talmadge for 105 years and Talmage for 35 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

  Talmadge Talmage
Total US births 5,6712,281
Most in one year 17352
Babies in 2025 8under 5
Estimated living today 2,1001,000
Median age today 5925
Peak year 19331922
Best rank 411th boys977th boys
Rank in 2025 8,910thunranked
First recorded 18861881
Girls / boys 36 / 5,6350 / 2,281

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 Talmages are over 25. That is 34 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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