Humanverse

Terry vs Terryn

American parents have registered 521,478 Terrys since 1880, against 806 Terryns. Terry is still ahead, with 202 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Terry Terryn

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 2012, when Terry had 499 and Terryn had 44.

Side by side

  Terry Terryn
Total US births 521,478806
Most in one year 20,93944
Babies in 2025 2025
Estimated living today 379,000790
Median age today 6519
Peak year 19572012
Best rank 33rd boys5,557th girls
Rank in 2025 1,115th14,942nd
First recorded 18801958
Girls / boys 96,955 / 424,523592 / 214

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 Terryns are over 19. That is 46 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: Terry and Terryn.