Humanverse

Becket vs Beckie

American parents have registered 2,851 Beckies since 1880, against 589 Beckets. But in 2025 it was Becket that was commoner, 29 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Becket against Beckie, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Becket Beckie

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 119 years in which either name was published, Beckie for 94 years and Becket for 25 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Becket Beckie
Total US births 5892,851
Most in one year 41128
Babies in 2025 29under 5
Estimated living today 5802,200
Median age today 964
Peak year 20161959
Best rank 2,885th boys921st girls
Rank in 2025 3,757thunranked
First recorded 19691882
Girls / boys 0 / 5892,851 / 0

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 Beckies alive today are over 64; half the Beckets are over 9. That is 55 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: Becket and Beckie.