Humanverse

Burk vs Burnice

American parents have registered 2,926 Burnices since 1880, against 244 Burks. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Burk against Burnice, 1880 to 2025 0 30 60 90 120 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Burk Burnice

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 95 years in which either name was published, Burnice for 78 years and Burk for 17 years. The lead changed hands 10 times.

Side by side

  Burk Burnice
Total US births 2442,926
Most in one year 11105
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 150600
Median age today 5476
Peak year 19691925
Best rank 2,682nd boys905th girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 18911893
Girls / boys 0 / 2441,593 / 1,333

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 Burnices alive today are over 76; half the Burks are over 54. That is 22 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: Burk and Burnice.