Humanverse

Richrd vs Ricky

American parents have registered 225,089 Rickys since 1880, against 400 Richrds. Ricky is still ahead, with 263 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Richrd against Ricky, 1880 to 2025 0 4k 8k 12k 16k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Richrd Ricky

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

Ricky has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1925 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1984, when Richrd had 15 and Ricky had 2,005.

Side by side

  Richrd Ricky
Total US births 400225,089
Most in one year 2113,424
Babies in 2025 under 5263
Estimated living today 330180,000
Median age today 5361
Peak year 19691958
Best rank 1,810th boys34th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked948th
First recorded 19481925
Girls / boys 0 / 4001,944 / 223,145

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 Rickys alive today are over 61; half the Richrds are over 53. That is 8 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: Richrd and Ricky.