Humanverse

Tal vs Talmadge

American parents have registered 5,671 Talmadges since 1880, against 1,813 Tals. But in 2025 it was Tal that was commoner, 16 babies to 8.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Tal against Talmadge, 1880 to 2025 0 50 100 150 200 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Tal Talmadge

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 133 years in which either name was published, Talmadge for 87 years and Tal for 46 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Tal Talmadge
Total US births 1,8135,671
Most in one year 94173
Babies in 2025 168
Estimated living today 1,7002,100
Median age today 3359
Peak year 19631933
Best rank 813th boys411th boys
Rank in 2025 7,194th8,910th
First recorded 19371886
Girls / boys 548 / 1,26536 / 5,635

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 Talmadges alive today are over 59; half the Tals are over 33. That is 26 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: Tal and Talmadge.