Humanverse

Monica vs Monnie

American parents have registered 252,257 Monicas since 1880, against 2,119 Monnies. Monica is still ahead, with 371 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Monica against Monnie, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Monica Monnie

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

Monica has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1899, when Monica had 30 and Monnie had 21.

Side by side

  Monica Monnie
Total US births 252,2572,119
Most in one year 6,61948
Babies in 2025 371under 5
Estimated living today 229,000620
Median age today 4672
Peak year 19791922
Best rank 40th girls1,124th girls
Rank in 2025 736thunranked
First recorded 18801884
Girls / boys 251,274 / 9831,861 / 258

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 Monnies alive today are over 72; half the Monicas are over 46. That is 26 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

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: Monica and Monnie.