Chico vs Chip
American parents have registered 3,493 Chips since 1880, against 951 Chicos. Chip is still ahead, with 24 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Chico Chip
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 87 years in which either name was published, Chip for 63 years and Chico for 24 years. The lead changed hands 15 times.
- 1922–1942 Chico ahead
- 1944–1974 Chip ahead
- 1975–1977 Chico ahead
- 1978–1989 Chip ahead
- 1993–2006 Chico ahead, apart from 2 short spells
- 2013–2025 Chip ahead
8 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Chico | Chip | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 951 | 3,493 |
| Most in one year | 56 | 171 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 24 |
| Estimated living today | 810 | 2,900 |
| Median age today | 48 | 58 |
| Peak year | 1977 | 1962 |
| Best rank | 1,177th boys | 593rd boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 4,249th |
| First recorded | 1922 | 1942 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 951 | 0 / 3,493 |
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 Chips alive today are over 58; half the Chicos are over 48. That is 10 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Chico South Carolina (23.8×)
- Chip Georgia (3.6×), Ohio (2.7×), North Carolina (2.3×)
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: Chico and Chip.