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Rock vs Rockford

American parents have registered 2,681 Rocks since 1880, against 710 Rockfords. Rock is still ahead, with 17 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Rock against Rockford, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Rock Rockford

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 99 years in which either name was published, Rock for 92 years and Rockford for 7 years. The lead changed hands 10 times.

Side by side

  Rock Rockford
Total US births 2,681710
Most in one year 15520
Babies in 2025 1710
Estimated living today 2,100590
Median age today 5739
Peak year 19571979
Best rank 618th boys2,379th boys
Rank in 2025 5,399th7,679th
First recorded 19131917
Girls / boys 0 / 2,6810 / 710

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 Rocks alive today are over 57; half the Rockfords are over 39. That is 18 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: Rock and Rockford.