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Knowlton vs Knox

American parents have registered 24,382 Knoxes since 1880, against 26 Knowltons. Knox is still ahead, with 1,849 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Knowlton Knox

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 104 years in which either name was published, Knox for 103 years and Knowlton for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Knowlton Knox
Total US births 2624,382
Most in one year 61,931
Babies in 2025 under 51,849
Estimated living today 024,000
Median age today 1006
Peak year 19182022
Best rank 3,728th boys199th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked196th
First recorded 18971881
Girls / boys 0 / 26240 / 24,142

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 Knowltons alive today are over 100; half the Knoxes are over 6. That is 94 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: Knowlton and Knox.