Temperance vs Tempest
American parents have registered 3,709 Temperances since 1880, against 1,322 Tempests. Temperance is still ahead, with 94 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Temperance Tempest
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 73 years in which either name was published, Tempest for 42 years and Temperance for 31 years. The lead changed hands 9 times.
- 1915 Tempest ahead
- 1916 Temperance ahead
- 1919–1971 Tempest ahead
- 1972 Temperance ahead
- 1973 Tempest ahead
- 1974–1980 Temperance ahead
- 1981 Tempest ahead
- 1982–1984 Temperance ahead
- 1985–2006 Tempest ahead
- 2007–2025 Temperance ahead
Side by side
| Temperance | Tempest | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 3,709 | 1,322 |
| Most in one year | 324 | 98 |
| Babies in 2025 | 94 | 16 |
| Estimated living today | 3,700 | 1,300 |
| Median age today | 11 | 31 |
| Peak year | 2014 | 1990 |
| Best rank | 850th girls | 1,557th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 2,017th | 6,838th |
| First recorded | 1916 | 1915 |
| Girls / boys | 3,709 / 0 | 1,322 / 0 |
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 Tempests alive today are over 31; half the Temperances are over 11. That is 20 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Temperance Oregon (2.8×), Colorado (2.3×), Missouri (2.3×)
- Tempest Florida (3.8×), Illinois (2.4×), Texas (2.1×)
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: Temperance and Tempest.