Humanverse

Diem vs Dierdre

American parents have registered 1,115 Dierdres since 1880, against 806 Diems. But in 2025 it was Diem that was commoner, 7 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Diem against Dierdre, 1880 to 2025 0 20 40 60 80 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Diem Dierdre

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 78 years in which either name was published, Dierdre for 50 years and Diem for 28 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Diem Dierdre
Total US births 8061,115
Most in one year 6363
Babies in 2025 7under 5
Estimated living today 800980
Median age today 1258
Peak year 20121961
Best rank 2,978th girls1,406th girls
Rank in 2025 11,932ndunranked
First recorded 19801941
Girls / boys 717 / 891,115 / 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 Dierdres alive today are over 58; half the Diems are over 12. That is 46 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: Diem and Dierdre.