Recorded 1890–2025 · United States
Teddy was most popular in 1949, when 637 American babies were given the name — ranking #560 that year. In 2025 it ranked #1,489, with 357 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 35,402 people named Teddy.
Teddy first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1890, which makes it about 135 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 129 of the 136 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 35,402 American births named Teddy between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 20,970 are estimated to be alive today.
357 American babies were named Teddy in 2025, ranking #1,489 that year.
Teddy is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 283 births a year, against 83 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +239% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Teddy is mostly a boy’s name — 5.0% of the 35,402 Americans given it were girls and 95.0% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 17% girls and 83% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 20,970 Americans named Teddy are alive today — 59% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 60 years old, and half are between 40 and 71. That is a wide band, the mark of a name in steady use across generations rather than a passing fashion.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Teddy on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org