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Rowdy vs Rowe

American parents have registered 5,055 Rowdys since 1880, against 712 Rowes. Rowdy is still ahead, with 266 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Rowdy against Rowe, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Rowdy Rowe

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 93 years in which either name was published, Rowdy for 67 years and Rowe for 26 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Rowdy Rowe
Total US births 5,055712
Most in one year 26695
Babies in 2025 26695
Estimated living today 4,900560
Median age today 144
Peak year 20242025
Best rank 922nd boys2,604th boys
Rank in 2025 940th2,604th
First recorded 19591914
Girls / boys 75 / 4,980185 / 527

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 Rowdys alive today are over 14; half the Rowes are over 4. That is 10 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: Rowdy and Rowe.