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Terrin vs Terry

American parents have registered 521,478 Terrys since 1880, against 970 Terrins. Terry is still ahead, with 202 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Terrin 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 2009, when Terrin had 27 and Terry had 505.

Side by side

  Terrin Terry
Total US births 970521,478
Most in one year 4820,939
Babies in 2025 under 5202
Estimated living today 940379,000
Median age today 3065
Peak year 19961957
Best rank 2,679th boys33rd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked1,115th
First recorded 19591880
Girls / boys 394 / 57696,955 / 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 Terrins are over 30. That is 35 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: Terrin and Terry.