Humanverse

Birtha vs Birtie

American parents have registered 1,973 Birthas since 1880, against 946 Birties. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Birtha against Birtie, 1880 to 2025 0 20 40 60 80 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Birtha Birtie

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 86 years in which either name was published, Birtha for 68 years and Birtie for 18 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Birtha Birtie
Total US births 1,973946
Most in one year 6730
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 33070
Median age today 7884
Peak year 19261915
Best rank 911th girls1,285th girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 18801880
Girls / boys 1,973 / 0946 / 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 Birties alive today are over 84; half the Birthas are over 78. That is 6 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: Birtha and Birtie.