Humanverse

Parker vs Parthenia

American parents have registered 163,836 Parkers since 1880, against 1,458 Parthenias. Parker is still ahead, with 6,013 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Parker Parthenia

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 146 years in which either name was published, Parker for 142 years and Parthenia for 4 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Parker Parthenia
Total US births 163,8361,458
Most in one year 7,12628
Babies in 2025 6,01311
Estimated living today 159,000580
Median age today 1266
Peak year 20141923
Best rank 73rd boys1,556th girls
Rank in 2025 102nd8,860th
First recorded 18801880
Girls / boys 32,895 / 130,9411,458 / 0

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 Parthenias alive today are over 66; half the Parkers are over 12. That is 54 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: Parker and Parthenia.