Humanverse

Birdie vs Birt

American parents have registered 14,814 Birdies since 1880, against 273 Birts. Birdie is still ahead, with 422 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Birdie against Birt, 1880 to 2025 0 125 250 375 500 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Birdie Birt

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

Birdie has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1881, when Birdie had 84 and Birt had 11.

Side by side

  Birdie Birt
Total US births 14,814273
Most in one year 42213
Babies in 2025 422under 5
Estimated living today 4,40014
Median age today 675
Peak year 20251916
Best rank 670th girls2,152nd boys
Rank in 2025 670thunranked
First recorded 18801880
Girls / boys 14,708 / 1065 / 268

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 Birts alive today are over 75; half the Birdies are over 6. That is 69 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: Birdie and Birt.