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Terria vs Terry

American parents have registered 521,478 Terrys since 1880, against 1,059 Terrias. Terry is still ahead, with 202 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Terria against Terry, 1880 to 2025 0 6k 12k 18k 24k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Terria Terry

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

Terry has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1999, when Terria had 23 and Terry had 949.

Side by side

  Terria Terry
Total US births 1,059521,478
Most in one year 3220,939
Babies in 2025 under 5202
Estimated living today 1,000379,000
Median age today 4265
Peak year 19871957
Best rank 2,972nd girls33rd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked1,115th
First recorded 19521880
Girls / boys 1,059 / 096,955 / 424,523

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 Terrys alive today are over 65; half the Terrias are over 42. That is 23 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: Terria and Terry.