Humanverse

Jeremiah vs Jerldine

American parents have registered 226,373 Jeremiahs since 1880, against 53 Jerldines. Jeremiah is still ahead, with 3,849 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Jeremiah against Jerldine, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Jeremiah Jerldine

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

Jeremiah 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 1933, when Jeremiah had 111 and Jerldine had 9.

Side by side

  Jeremiah Jerldine
Total US births 226,37353
Most in one year 7,7569
Babies in 2025 3,849under 5
Estimated living today 215,00013
Median age today 1887
Peak year 20101924
Best rank 51st boys3,393rd girls
Rank in 2025 88thunranked
First recorded 18801924
Girls / boys 699 / 225,67453 / 0

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 Jerldines alive today are over 87; half the Jeremiahs are over 18. That is 69 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: Jeremiah and Jerldine.