Humanverse

Toney vs Tony

American parents have registered 254,483 Tonys since 1880, against 6,610 Toneys. Tony is still ahead, with 325 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Toney against Tony, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Toney Tony

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

Tony 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 1886, when Toney had 11 and Tony had 29.

Side by side

  Toney Tony
Total US births 6,610254,483
Most in one year 1938,368
Babies in 2025 6325
Estimated living today 4,300186,000
Median age today 5756
Peak year 19611961
Best rank 579th boys53rd boys
Rank in 2025 10,695th783rd
First recorded 18801880
Girls / boys 194 / 6,4162,888 / 251,595

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.

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: Toney and Tony.