Temperance vs Tempie
American parents have registered 3,709 Temperances since 1880, against 1,681 Tempies. Temperance is still ahead, with 94 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Temperance Tempie
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 142 years in which either name was published, Tempie for 93 years and Temperance for 49 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.
- 1880–1971 Tempie ahead
- 1972 Temperance ahead
- 1973 Tempie ahead
- 1974–1980 Temperance ahead
- 1981 Tempie ahead
- 1982–2025 Temperance ahead
Side by side
| Temperance | Tempie | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 3,709 | 1,681 |
| Most in one year | 324 | 39 |
| Babies in 2025 | 94 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 3,700 | 430 |
| Median age today | 11 | 70 |
| Peak year | 2014 | 1918 |
| Best rank | 850th girls | 1,203rd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 2,017th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1916 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 3,709 / 0 | 1,681 / 0 |
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 Tempies alive today are over 70; half the Temperances are over 11. That is 59 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Temperance Oregon (2.8×), Colorado (2.3×), Missouri (2.3×)
- Tempie North Carolina (17.1×), Alabama (11.3×), Mississippi (7.0×)
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: Temperance and Tempie.