Humanverse

Hoorain vs Hoover

American parents have registered 1,127 Hoovers since 1880, against 404 Hoorains. But in 2025 it was Hoorain that was commoner, 28 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Hoorain Hoover

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 58 years in which either name was published, Hoover for 47 years and Hoorain for 11 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Hoorain Hoover
Total US births 4041,127
Most in one year 52256
Babies in 2025 28under 5
Estimated living today 400190
Median age today 569
Peak year 20201928
Best rank 3,061st girls362nd boys
Rank in 2025 4,758thunranked
First recorded 20151913
Girls / boys 404 / 07 / 1,120

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 Hoovers alive today are over 69; half the Hoorains are over 5. That is 64 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

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