Humanverse

Sir vs Sirr

American parents have registered 2,172 Sirs since 1880, against 264 Sirrs. Sir is still ahead, with 66 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Sir Sirr

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

Sir has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1967 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2003, when Sir had 44 and Sirr had 43.

Side by side

  Sir Sirr
Total US births 2,172264
Most in one year 12343
Babies in 2025 66under 5
Estimated living today 2,100260
Median age today 1317
Peak year 20212003
Best rank 1,461st boys2,428th boys
Rank in 2025 2,167thunranked
First recorded 19672001
Girls / boys 0 / 2,1720 / 264

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 Sirrs alive today are over 17; half the Sirs are over 13. That is 4 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: Sir and Sirr.