Humanverse

Ferdinand vs Ferrin

American parents have registered 8,909 Ferdinands since 1880, against 123 Ferrins. Ferdinand is still ahead, with 24 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Ferdinand against Ferrin, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Ferdinand Ferrin

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

Ferdinand has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1986, when Ferdinand had 31 and Ferrin had 15.

Side by side

  Ferdinand Ferrin
Total US births 8,909123
Most in one year 25918
Babies in 2025 24under 5
Estimated living today 2,800110
Median age today 5336
Peak year 19181987
Best rank 363rd boys4,474th girls
Rank in 2025 4,249thunranked
First recorded 18801944
Girls / boys 0 / 8,90995 / 28

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 Ferdinands alive today are over 53; half the Ferrins are over 36. That is 17 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Ferdinand and Ferrin.