Humanverse

Gordon vs Gorman

American parents have registered 155,579 Gordons since 1880, against 818 Gormans. Gordon is still ahead, with 209 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Gordon against Gorman, 1880 to 2025 0 800 1.6k 2.4k 3.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Gordon Gorman

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

Gordon 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 1903, when Gordon had 142 and Gorman had 6.

Side by side

  Gordon Gorman
Total US births 155,579818
Most in one year 2,83532
Babies in 2025 209under 5
Estimated living today 65,000180
Median age today 6573
Peak year 19521924
Best rank 110th boys1,287th boys
Rank in 2025 1,051stunranked
First recorded 18801903
Girls / boys 670 / 154,9090 / 818

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 Gormans alive today are over 73; half the Gordons are over 65. That is 8 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: Gordon and Gorman.