Lem vs Lemon
American parents have registered 1,430 Lemons since 1880, against 1,297 Lems. Lemon is still ahead, with 30 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Lem Lemon
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 111 years in which either name was published, Lem for 57 years and Lemon for 54 years. The lead changed hands 35 times.
- 1880–1899 Lem ahead
- 1900–1903 Lemon ahead
- 1909–1923 Lem ahead, apart from 2 short spells
- 1943–1945 Lemon ahead
- 1946–1952 Lem ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1953–1956 Lemon ahead
- 1957–1960 Lem ahead
- 1965–2025 Lemon ahead, apart from one short spell
24 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Lem | Lemon | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,297 | 1,430 |
| Most in one year | 39 | 50 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 30 |
| Estimated living today | 190 | 560 |
| Median age today | 74 | 8 |
| Peak year | 1917 | 1927 |
| Best rank | 1,062nd boys | 1,350th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1882 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 1,297 | 359 / 1,071 |
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 Lemons are over 8. That is 66 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Lem Mississippi (20.0×)
- Lemon Alabama (11.2×), Georgia (10.9×)
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: Lem and Lemon.