Humanverse

Curley vs Curran

American parents have registered 3,124 Curleys since 1880, against 1,188 Currans. But in 2025 it was Curran that was commoner, 7 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Curley against Curran, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Curley Curran

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 135 years in which either name was published, Curley for 88 years and Curran for 47 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Curley Curran
Total US births 3,1241,188
Most in one year 8356
Babies in 2025 under 57
Estimated living today 1,2001,100
Median age today 6927
Peak year 19441993
Best rank 754th boys1,601st boys
Rank in 2025 unranked9,714th
First recorded 18811916
Girls / boys 534 / 2,59030 / 1,158

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 Curleys alive today are over 69; half the Currans are over 27. That is 42 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: Curley and Curran.