Humanverse

Bridget vs Bristol

American parents have registered 92,517 Bridgets since 1880, against 11,616 Bristols. But in 2025 it was Bristol that was commoner, 390 babies to 385.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Bridget against Bristol, 1880 to 2025 0 800 1.6k 2.4k 3.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Bridget Bristol

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 146 years in which either name was published, Bridget for 131 years and Bristol for 15 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Bridget Bristol
Total US births 92,51711,616
Most in one year 2,770801
Babies in 2025 385390
Estimated living today 84,00011,000
Median age today 429
Peak year 19732019
Best rank 112th girls390th girls
Rank in 2025 724th728th
First recorded 18801915
Girls / boys 92,367 / 15011,043 / 573

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 Bridgets alive today are over 42; half the Bristols are over 9. That is 33 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: Bridget and Bristol.