Humanverse

Thad vs Thayer

American parents have registered 8,224 Thads since 1880, against 1,437 Thayers. But in 2025 it was Thayer that was commoner, 15 babies to 8.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Thad Thayer

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 Thayer for 14 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Thad Thayer
Total US births 8,2241,437
Most in one year 36552
Babies in 2025 815
Estimated living today 5,6001,100
Median age today 5418
Peak year 19672014
Best rank 401st boys2,429th boys
Rank in 2025 8,910th5,861st
First recorded 18801912
Girls / boys 5 / 8,21979 / 1,358

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 Thayers are over 18. That is 36 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 Thayer.