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Junellen vs Junior

American parents have registered 43,182 Juniors since 1880, against 12 Junellens. Junior is still ahead, with 343 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Junellen against Junior, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Junellen Junior

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

Junior has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1882 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1947, when Junellen had 12 and Junior had 388.

Side by side

  Junellen Junior
Total US births 1243,182
Most in one year 121,607
Babies in 2025 under 5343
Estimated living today 818,000
Median age today 7829
Peak year 19471926
Best rank 3,061st girls117th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked752nd
First recorded 19471882
Girls / boys 12 / 0195 / 42,987

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 Junellens alive today are over 78; half the Juniors are over 29. That is 49 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: Junellen and Junior.