Humanverse

Terri vs Terris

American parents have registered 147,027 Terris since 1880, against 980 Terrises. Terri is still ahead, with 19 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Terri 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

Terri has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1922 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2009, when Terri had 50 and Terris had 14.

Side by side

  Terri Terris
Total US births 147,027980
Most in one year 8,81029
Babies in 2025 19under 5
Estimated living today 127,000870
Median age today 6245
Peak year 19591970
Best rank 46th girls1,658th boys
Rank in 2025 6,116thunranked
First recorded 19221945
Girls / boys 146,113 / 914143 / 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 Terris alive today are over 62; half the Terrises are over 45. That is 17 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: Terri and Terris.