Humanverse

Thad vs Thang

American parents have registered 8,224 Thads since 1880, against 796 Thangs. But in 2025 it was Thang that was commoner, 28 babies to 8.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Thad Thang

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 132 years and Thang for 14 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Thad Thang
Total US births 8,224796
Most in one year 36549
Babies in 2025 828
Estimated living today 5,600780
Median age today 5411
Peak year 19672016
Best rank 401st boys2,726th boys
Rank in 2025 8,910th3,848th
First recorded 18801976
Girls / boys 5 / 8,21929 / 767

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 Thangs are over 11. That is 43 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Thad and Thang.