Humanverse

Noahjames vs Noam

American parents have registered 3,146 Noams since 1880, against 103 Noahjameses. Noam is still ahead, with 163 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Noahjames against Noam, 1880 to 2025 0 50 100 150 200 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Noahjames Noam

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

Noam has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1961 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2011, when Noahjames had 12 and Noam had 88.

Side by side

  Noahjames Noam
Total US births 1033,146
Most in one year 12163
Babies in 2025 7163
Estimated living today 1003,100
Median age today 713
Peak year 20112025
Best rank 6,578th boys1,267th boys
Rank in 2025 9,714th1,267th
First recorded 20111961
Girls / boys 0 / 103244 / 2,902

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 Noams alive today are over 13; half the Noahjameses are over 7. That is 6 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: Noahjames and Noam.