Humanverse

Terri vs Terrill

American parents have registered 147,027 Terris since 1880, against 5,079 Terrills. Terri is still ahead, with 19 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Terri against Terrill, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Terri Terrill

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 106 years in which either name was published, Terri for 97 years and Terrill for 9 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Terri Terrill
Total US births 147,0275,079
Most in one year 8,810132
Babies in 2025 19under 5
Estimated living today 127,0004,100
Median age today 6249
Peak year 19591975
Best rank 46th girls754th boys
Rank in 2025 6,116thunranked
First recorded 19221917
Girls / boys 146,113 / 914714 / 4,365

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 Terris alive today are over 62; half the Terrills are over 49. That is 13 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: Terri and Terrill.