Humanverse

Byrd vs Byrdie

American parents have registered 962 Byrds since 1880, against 621 Byrdies. But in 2025 it was Byrdie that was commoner, 28 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Byrd against Byrdie, 1880 to 2025 0 10 20 30 40 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Byrd Byrdie

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 89 years in which either name was published, Byrd for 67 years and Byrdie for 22 years. The lead changed hands 15 times.

7 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

  Byrd Byrdie
Total US births 962621
Most in one year 3328
Babies in 2025 under 528
Estimated living today 100200
Median age today 774
Peak year 19192025
Best rank 1,408th boys4,758th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked4,758th
First recorded 18801881
Girls / boys 253 / 709621 / 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 Byrds alive today are over 77; half the Byrdies are over 4. That is 73 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: Byrd and Byrdie.