Humanverse

Terrence vs Terris

American parents have registered 72,939 Terrences since 1880, against 980 Terrises. Terrence is still ahead, with 107 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Terrence against Terris, 1880 to 2025 0 400 800 1.2k 1.6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Terrence Terris

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

Terrence has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1886 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2005, when Terrence had 403 and Terris had 16.

Side by side

  Terrence Terris
Total US births 72,939980
Most in one year 1,50829
Babies in 2025 107under 5
Estimated living today 58,000870
Median age today 4945
Peak year 19551970
Best rank 181st boys1,658th boys
Rank in 2025 1,585thunranked
First recorded 18861945
Girls / boys 527 / 72,412143 / 837

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 Terrences alive today are over 49; half the Terrises are over 45. That is 4 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: Terrence and Terris.