Humanverse

Corbett vs Cory

American parents have registered 133,778 Corys since 1880, against 2,433 Corbetts. Cory is still ahead, with 174 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Corbett against Cory, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Corbett Cory

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 124 years in which either name was published, Cory for 80 years and Corbett for 44 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Corbett Cory
Total US births 2,433133,778
Most in one year 546,660
Babies in 2025 10174
Estimated living today 1,600125,000
Median age today 4338
Peak year 19711989
Best rank 1,109th boys61st boys
Rank in 2025 7,679th1,244th
First recorded 18921924
Girls / boys 0 / 2,4336,599 / 127,179

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 Corbetts alive today are over 43; half the Corys are over 38. That is 5 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: Corbett and Cory.