Humanverse

Becker vs Becky

American parents have registered 87,042 Beckys since 1880, against 527 Beckers. Becky is still ahead, with 36 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Becker against Becky, 1880 to 2025 0 1.3k 2.5k 3.8k 5k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Becker Becky

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 136 years in which either name was published, Becky for 135 years and Becker for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Becker Becky
Total US births 52787,042
Most in one year 314,755
Babies in 2025 2536
Estimated living today 52073,000
Median age today 1062
Peak year 20181959
Best rank 3,524th boys102nd girls
Rank in 2025 4,139th3,975th
First recorded 19891880
Girls / boys 0 / 52786,898 / 144

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 Beckys alive today are over 62; half the Beckers are over 10. That is 52 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: Becker and Becky.