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Diesel vs Dietrich

American parents have registered 2,212 Dietriches since 1880, against 2,092 Diesels. But in 2025 it was Diesel that was commoner, 59 babies to 29.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Diesel against Dietrich, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Diesel Dietrich

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 92 years in which either name was published, Dietrich for 70 years and Diesel for 22 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Diesel Dietrich
Total US births 2,0922,212
Most in one year 15658
Babies in 2025 5929
Estimated living today 2,1002,000
Median age today 1130
Peak year 20142016
Best rank 1,186th boys2,278th boys
Rank in 2025 2,332nd3,757th
First recorded 20011917
Girls / boys 0 / 2,092149 / 2,063

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 Dietriches alive today are over 30; half the Diesels are over 11. That is 19 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: Diesel and Dietrich.