Humanverse

Tim vs Timber

American parents have registered 83,546 Tims since 1880, against 2,397 Timbers. But in 2025 it was Timber that was commoner, 73 babies to 37.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Tim against Timber, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Tim Timber

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, Tim for 131 years and Timber for 15 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Tim Timber
Total US births 83,5462,397
Most in one year 6,944132
Babies in 2025 3773
Estimated living today 62,0002,400
Median age today 6310
Peak year 19602015
Best rank 60th boys2,236th girls
Rank in 2025 3,181st3,712th
First recorded 18801970
Girls / boys 188 / 83,3581,504 / 893

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 Tims alive today are over 63; half the Timbers are over 10. That is 53 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: Tim and Timber.