Humanverse

Torrey vs Toru

American parents have registered 6,344 Torreys since 1880, against 60 Torus. Torrey is still ahead, with 25 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Torrey Toru

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 89 years in which either name was published, Torrey for 82 years and Toru for 7 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Torrey Toru
Total US births 6,34460
Most in one year 34014
Babies in 2025 25under 5
Estimated living today 5,9005
Median age today 4030
Peak year 19771922
Best rank 462nd boys2,240th boys
Rank in 2025 6,446thunranked
First recorded 19381917
Girls / boys 1,278 / 5,0660 / 60

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 Torreys alive today are over 40; half the Torus are over 30. That is 10 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: Torrey and Toru.