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Thad vs Thadeus

American parents have registered 8,224 Thads since 1880, against 1,123 Thadeuses. Thad is still ahead, with 8 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Thad against Thadeus, 1880 to 2025 0 100 200 300 400 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Thad Thadeus

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 146 years in which either name was published, Thad for 143 years and Thadeus for 3 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.

Side by side

  Thad Thadeus
Total US births 8,2241,123
Most in one year 36527
Babies in 2025 86
Estimated living today 5,600770
Median age today 5432
Peak year 19671918
Best rank 401st boys1,373rd boys
Rank in 2025 8,910th10,695th
First recorded 18801912
Girls / boys 5 / 8,2190 / 1,123

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 Thads alive today are over 54; half the Thadeuses are over 32. That is 22 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: Thad and Thadeus.