Humanverse

Rodger vs Rodman

American parents have registered 21,556 Rodgers since 1880, against 1,331 Rodmans. Rodger is still ahead, with 18 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Rodger against Rodman, 1880 to 2025 0 200 400 600 800 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Rodger Rodman

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

Rodger has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1891 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2024, when Rodger had 9 and Rodman had 5.

Side by side

  Rodger Rodman
Total US births 21,5561,331
Most in one year 68034
Babies in 2025 18under 5
Estimated living today 13,000600
Median age today 6560
Peak year 19491928
Best rank 247th boys1,228th boys
Rank in 2025 5,208thunranked
First recorded 18911912
Girls / boys 0 / 21,5560 / 1,331

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 Rodgers alive today are over 65; half the Rodmans are over 60. That is 5 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: Rodger and Rodman.