Humanverse

Hughes vs Hughie

American parents have registered 1,676 Hughies since 1880, against 919 Hugheses. But in 2025 it was Hughes that was commoner, 24 babies to 7.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Hughes Hughie

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 113 years in which either name was published, Hughie for 82 years and Hughes for 31 years. The lead changed hands 9 times.

Side by side

  Hughes Hughie
Total US births 9191,676
Most in one year 6148
Babies in 2025 247
Estimated living today 430460
Median age today 1470
Peak year 19161925
Best rank 790th boys984th boys
Rank in 2025 4,249th9,714th
First recorded 18961888
Girls / boys 0 / 9190 / 1,676

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 Hughies alive today are over 70; half the Hugheses are over 14. That is 56 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: Hughes and Hughie.