Names That Peaked In 1909
These names hit their all-time highest U.S. ranking in 1909 and have never ranked as high since — the sound of that moment, frozen in the data. (The #1 names that year were Mary and John — reigning champions usually peak in a different year than they reign.)
| Save name | Name & meaning | History 1926–2025, yearly counts; individually scaled | Babies 2025 · rank | 5-year rank movement | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 139#1,352 | Down 8 rank positions in five years | 1925 | |||
| 9#10,866 | new | 1919 | |||
| 156#1,400 | Up 656 rank positions in five years | 1920 | |||
| 6#11,374 | new | 1919 | |||
| 44#3,463 | Up 37 rank positions in five years | 1920 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1920 | |||
| 44#2,853 | Down 883 rank positions in five years | 1922 | |||
| 12#6,867 | Up 241 rank positions in five years | 1918 | |||
| 81#2,267 | Up 606 rank positions in five years | 2024 | |||
| 27#3,952 | Up 475 rank positions in five years | 1970 | |||
| 18#6,540 | Down 3,142 rank positions in five years | 1923 | |||
| 5#12,649 | Up 38 rank positions in five years | 1920 | |||
| 11#9,062 | Down 485 rank positions in five years | 1990 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1932 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1925 | |||
| 47#2,724 | Up 2,179 rank positions in five years | 1915 | |||
| 14#7,540 | Down 3,172 rank positions in five years | 1924 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1925 | |||
| 35#4,068 | Up 1,249 rank positions in five years | 2009 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1920 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1925 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1915 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1918 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1917 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1916 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1926 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1921 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1926 |
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How this list is built
A name “peaked” in 1909 when that year holds its best-ever position in the national rankings — rank, not raw count, because raw counts track how many babies were born and would pile every “peak” into the boom years. To qualify, a name must have reached the top 1,000 at its height and have at least 500 all-time applications. Lists are ordered by that peak rank.
Ranks come from U.S. births, counted separately for girls and boys. “Unranked” today means fewer than 5 applications in the latest year — uncommon, never invalid.