Humanverse

Thunder vs Thurmond

American parents have registered 1,002 Thurmonds since 1880, against 562 Thunders. But in 2025 it was Thunder that was commoner, 18 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Thunder against Thurmond, 1880 to 2025 0 8 16 24 32 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Thunder Thurmond

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 114 years in which either name was published, Thurmond for 75 years and Thunder for 39 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Thunder Thurmond
Total US births 5621,002
Most in one year 3030
Babies in 2025 18under 5
Estimated living today 550460
Median age today 1566
Peak year 20181948
Best rank 3,607th boys1,323rd boys
Rank in 2025 5,208thunranked
First recorded 19751909
Girls / boys 0 / 5620 / 1,002

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 Thurmonds alive today are over 66; half the Thunders are over 15. That is 51 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: Thunder and Thurmond.