Thomasine vs Thornton
American parents have registered 3,132 Thorntons since 1880, against 2,234 Thomasines. Thornton is still ahead, with 10 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Thomasine Thornton
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 142 years in which either name was published, Thornton for 103 years and Thomasine for 39 years. The lead changed hands 14 times.
- 1880–1939 Thornton ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1940–1976 Thomasine ahead, apart from 2 short spells
- 1979–2025 Thornton ahead, apart from one short spell
8 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Thomasine | Thornton | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 2,234 | 3,132 |
| Most in one year | 67 | 75 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 10 |
| Estimated living today | 1,300 | 1,100 |
| Median age today | 69 | 56 |
| Peak year | 1950 | 1921 |
| Best rank | 1,123rd girls | 772nd boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 7,679th |
| First recorded | 1909 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 2,234 / 0 | 0 / 3,132 |
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 Thomasines alive today are over 69; half the Thorntons are over 56. That is 13 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Thomasine the District of Columbia (46.9×), Virginia (12.3×), North Carolina (4.7×)
- Thornton Virginia (15.8×), Alabama (3.9×), Kentucky (3.3×)
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: Thomasine and Thornton.