Humanverse

Timberly vs Timothy

American parents have registered 1,088,520 Timothys since 1880, against 1,032 Timberlys. Timothy is still ahead, with 1,734 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Timberly Timothy

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

Timothy has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2016, when Timberly had 20 and Timothy had 2,679.

Side by side

  Timberly Timothy
Total US births 1,0321,088,520
Most in one year 2730,862
Babies in 2025 71,734
Estimated living today 1,000910,000
Median age today 3351
Peak year 19941959
Best rank 3,892nd girls12th boys
Rank in 2025 11,932nd203rd
First recorded 19601880
Girls / boys 1,032 / 04,328 / 1,084,192

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 Timothys alive today are over 51; half the Timberlys are over 33. That is 18 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: Timberly and Timothy.