Lemmie vs Lemon
American parents have registered 1,430 Lemons since 1880, against 816 Lemmies. Lemon is still ahead, with 30 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Lemmie 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 107 years in which either name was published, Lemon for 78 years and Lemmie for 29 years. The lead changed hands 38 times.
- 1882–1942 Lemon ahead, apart from 8 short spells
- 1950–1952 Lemmie ahead
- 1953–2025 Lemon ahead, apart from 3 short spells
25 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Lemmie | Lemon | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 816 | 1,430 |
| Most in one year | 28 | 50 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 30 |
| Estimated living today | 180 | 560 |
| Median age today | 72 | 8 |
| Peak year | 1931 | 1927 |
| Best rank | 1,538th boys | 1,350th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | unranked |
| First recorded | 1889 | 1882 |
| Girls / boys | 150 / 666 | 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 Lemmies alive today are over 72; half the Lemons are over 8. That is 64 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: Lemmie and Lemon.