Humanverse

Torrance vs Toru

American parents have registered 4,152 Torrances since 1880, against 60 Torus. Torrance is still ahead, with 24 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Torrance against Toru, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Torrance Toru

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 85 years in which either name was published, Torrance for 78 years and Toru for 7 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Torrance Toru
Total US births 4,15260
Most in one year 12814
Babies in 2025 24under 5
Estimated living today 3,9005
Median age today 3530
Peak year 19731922
Best rank 710th boys2,240th boys
Rank in 2025 5,208thunranked
First recorded 19401917
Girls / boys 562 / 3,5900 / 60

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 Torrances alive today are over 35; half the Torus are over 30. That is 5 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: Torrance and Toru.