Lem vs Lemmie
American parents have registered 1,297 Lems since 1880, against 816 Lemmies. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Lem Lemmie
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 95 years in which either name was published, Lem for 66 years and Lemmie for 29 years. The lead changed hands 37 times.
- 1880–1954 Lem ahead, apart from 6 short spells
- 1961–1963 Lemmie ahead
- 1969–1983 Lem ahead
- 1988–2023 Lemmie ahead
28 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Lem | Lemmie | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,297 | 816 |
| Most in one year | 39 | 28 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 190 | 180 |
| Median age today | 74 | 72 |
| Peak year | 1917 | 1931 |
| Best rank | 1,062nd boys | 1,538th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1889 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 1,297 | 150 / 666 |
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 Lems alive today are over 74; half the Lemmies are over 72. That is 2 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: Lem and Lemmie.