Tempest vs Temple
American parents have registered 2,396 Temples since 1880, against 1,322 Tempests. But in 2025 it was Tempest that was commoner, 16 babies to 9.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Tempest Temple
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 124 years in which either name was published, Temple for 94 years and Tempest for 30 years. The lead changed hands 17 times.
14 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Tempest | Temple | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,322 | 2,396 |
| Most in one year | 98 | 104 |
| Babies in 2025 | 16 | 9 |
| Estimated living today | 1,300 | 1,600 |
| Median age today | 31 | 51 |
| Peak year | 1990 | 1971 |
| Best rank | 1,557th girls | 1,253rd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 6,838th | 10,107th |
| First recorded | 1915 | 1884 |
| Girls / boys | 1,322 / 0 | 1,568 / 828 |
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 Temples alive today are over 51; half the Tempests are over 31. That is 20 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: Tempest and Temple.