Thurmond vs Thurston
American parents have registered 3,501 Thurstons since 1880, against 1,002 Thurmonds. Thurston is still ahead, with 5 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Thurmond Thurston
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
Thurston has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1884 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1950, when Thurmond had 26 and Thurston had 28.
Side by side
| Thurmond | Thurston | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,002 | 3,501 |
| Most in one year | 30 | 73 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 5 |
| Estimated living today | 460 | 1,700 |
| Median age today | 66 | 49 |
| Peak year | 1948 | 1918 |
| Best rank | 1,323rd boys | 753rd boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 12,008th |
| First recorded | 1909 | 1884 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 1,002 | 0 / 3,501 |
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 Thurmonds alive today are over 66; half the Thurstons are over 49. That is 17 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Thurmond South Carolina (33.7×), West Virginia (13.4×), Georgia (7.4×)
- Thurston North Carolina (15.7×), Alabama (6.3×), Tennessee (3.2×)
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: Thurmond and Thurston.