Ted
Ted was given to 37 boys in 2025, #3,228 among boys’ names; 75,424 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 38,600 Americans named Ted and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (51% of everyone recorded); the median is 65 years old and half are between 55 and 73.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ted by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ted mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Ted is “a nickname for the male given names Edward, Theodore, Thaddeus, and Edmund.”
Shortened form of Edward, Theodore, Thaddeus or Edmund.
/tɛd/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ted?
#3,228 among boys’ names, 2025
Ted fell from #2,597 in 2015 to #3,228 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 25.0 to 21.7 per million.
1,748 babies in 1958, the peak
Ted peaked in 1958, when 1,748 babies were given it (1,743 boys, #173 among boys’ names). The 37 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 37 | #3,228 | 0.02 |
| 2024 | 44 | #2,906 | 0.03 |
| 2023 | 43 | #2,942 | 0.03 |
| 2022 | 41 | #3,046 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 38 | #3,171 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 35 | #3,259 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 55 | #2,460 | 0.03 |
| 2018 | 49 | #2,612 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 56 | #2,339 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 56 | #2,363 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 48 | #2,597 | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 59 | #2,270 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 73 | #1,929 | 0.04 |
| 2012 | 67 | #2,063 | 0.04 |
| 2011 | 66 | #2,051 | 0.03 |
| 2010 | 81 | #1,813 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 53 | #2,444 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 75 | #1,930 | 0.04 |
| 2007 | 61 | #2,208 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 59 | #2,203 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 75 | #1,766 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 72 | #1,757 | 0.04 |
| 2003 | 74 | #1,681 | 0.04 |
| 2002 | 99 | #1,340 | 0.05 |
| 2001 | 99 | #1,321 | 0.05 |
| 2000 | 97 | #1,330 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 112 | #1,169 | 0.06 |
| 1998 | 106 | #1,172 | 0.06 |
| 1997 | 127 | #1,009 | 0.07 |
| 1996 | 135 | #957 | 0.07 |
| 1995 | 150 | #892 | 0.08 |
| 1994 | 163 | #836 | 0.08 |
| 1993 | 179 | #791 | 0.09 |
| 1992 | 188 | #758 | 0.09 |
| 1991 | 177 | #769 | 0.09 |
| 1990 | 249 | #642 | 0.12 |
| 1989 | 268 | #598 | 0.13 |
| 1988 | 290 | #537 | 0.15 |
| 1987 | 282 | #544 | 0.15 |
| 1986 | 298 | #511 | 0.16 |
| 1985 | 267 | #532 | 0.14 |
| 1984 | 288 | #499 | 0.16 |
| 1983 | 299 | #488 | 0.17 |
| 1982 | 317 | #476 | 0.17 |
| 1981 | 339 | #449 | 0.19 |
| 1980 | 364 | #430 | 0.20 |
| 1979 | 354 | #425 | 0.21 |
| 1978 | 361 | #409 | 0.22 |
| 1977 | 417 | #383 | 0.25 |
| 1976 | 432 | #368 | 0.28 |
| 1975 | 455 | #364 | 0.29 |
| 1974 | 478 | #353 | 0.30 |
| 1973 | 543 | #321 | 0.35 |
| 1972 | 664 | #285 | 0.41 |
| 1971 | 802 | #267 | 0.45 |
| 1970 | 944 | #246 | 0.51 |
| 1969 | 1,058 | #222 | 0.59 |
| 1968 | 1,047 | #219 | 0.60 |
| 1967 | 953 | #230 | 0.55 |
| 1966 | 1,075 | #213 | 0.60 |
| 1965 | 1,243 | #201 | 0.67 |
| 1964 | 1,507 | #185 | 0.76 |
| 1963 | 1,578 | #188 | 0.78 |
| 1962 | 1,701 | #180 | 0.82 |
| 1961 | 1,683 | #183 | 0.79 |
| 1960 | 1,695 | #184 | 0.79 |
| 1959 | 1,672 | #181 | 0.78 |
| 1958 | 1,743 | #173 | 0.82 |
| 1957 | 1,636 | #184 | 0.76 |
| 1956 | 1,457 | #192 | 0.69 |
| 1955 | 1,409 | #188 | 0.68 |
| 1954 | 1,343 | #191 | 0.66 |
| 1953 | 1,305 | #190 | 0.66 |
| 1952 | 1,412 | #182 | 0.73 |
| 1951 | 1,387 | #180 | 0.74 |
| 1950 | 1,355 | #170 | 0.76 |
| 1949 | 1,379 | #169 | 0.78 |
| 1948 | 1,476 | #163 | 0.84 |
| 1947 | 1,647 | #157 | 0.90 |
| 1946 | 1,490 | #158 | 0.92 |
| 1945 | 1,238 | #155 | 0.92 |
| 1944 | 1,166 | #160 | 0.86 |
| 1943 | 1,236 | #157 | 0.87 |
| 1942 | 1,252 | #156 | 0.91 |
| 1941 | 1,096 | #156 | 0.89 |
| 1940 | 1,047 | #159 | 0.90 |
| 1939 | 1,079 | #149 | 1.0 |
| 1938 | 1,111 | #147 | 1.0 |
| 1937 | 1,062 | #147 | 1.0 |
| 1936 | 1,064 | #144 | 1.0 |
| 1935 | 1,085 | #144 | 1.0 |
| 1934 | 1,052 | #146 | 1.0 |
| 1933 | 1,040 | #145 | 1.0 |
| 1932 | 1,067 | #147 | 1.0 |
| 1931 | 983 | #155 | 0.95 |
| 1930 | 983 | #156 | 0.90 |
| 1929 | 853 | #167 | 0.79 |
| 1928 | 826 | #175 | 0.75 |
| 1927 | 762 | #190 | 0.68 |
| 1926 | 764 | #191 | 0.69 |
| 1925 | 670 | #209 | 0.60 |
| 1924 | 610 | #219 | 0.54 |
| 1923 | 592 | #218 | 0.54 |
| 1922 | 606 | #219 | 0.56 |
| 1921 | 614 | #214 | 0.56 |
| 1920 | 545 | #231 | 0.51 |
| 1919 | 572 | #217 | 0.58 |
| 1918 | 564 | #220 | 0.56 |
| 1917 | 498 | #221 | 0.54 |
| 1916 | 453 | #235 | 0.51 |
| 1915 | 403 | #241 | 0.47 |
| 1914 | 309 | #243 | 0.47 |
| 1913 | 247 | #239 | 0.48 |
| 1912 | 244 | #220 | 0.57 |
| 1911 | 97 | #264 | 0.43 |
| 1910 | 127 | #204 | 0.65 |
| 1909 | 122 | #184 | 0.74 |
| 1908 | 113 | #188 | 0.73 |
| 1907 | 112 | #189 | 0.76 |
| 1906 | 89 | #199 | 0.67 |
| 1905 | 115 | #170 | 0.87 |
| 1904 | 94 | #190 | 0.73 |
| 1903 | 71 | #211 | 0.60 |
| 1902 | 87 | #192 | 0.71 |
| 1901 | 64 | #213 | 0.60 |
| 1900 | 75 | #234 | 0.50 |
| 1899 | 34 | #305 | 0.32 |
| 1898 | 39 | #306 | 0.32 |
| 1897 | 28 | #358 | 0.25 |
| 1896 | 30 | #356 | 0.25 |
| 1895 | 24 | #398 | 0.20 |
| 1894 | 23 | #397 | 0.20 |
| 1893 | 12 | #607 | 0.11 |
| 1892 | 15 | #540 | 0.12 |
| 1891 | 22 | #375 | 0.22 |
| 1890 | 20 | #414 | 0.18 |
| 1889 | 25 | #358 | 0.23 |
| 1888 | 21 | #414 | 0.17 |
| 1887 | 20 | #376 | 0.20 |
| 1886 | 10 | #643 | 0.09 |
| 1885 | 10 | #635 | 0.09 |
| 1884 | 10 | #652 | 0.09 |
| 1883 | 13 | #521 | 0.12 |
| 1882 | 14 | #513 | 0.12 |
| 1881 | 7 | #773 | 0.07 |
| 1880 | 13 | #521 | 0.12 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Ted a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ted has been given almost only to boys: 264 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Ted: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ted, and how old are they?
38,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 51% of the 75,424 Americans ever recorded as Ted. The median Ted alive today is 65 years old; half are between 55 and 73.
The 2020 Census counted 49,170 people named Ted (94 women and girls, 49,076 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 44,577 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3,970 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 19,200 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 9,750 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,680 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,300 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 629 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Ted born?
The states with the most babies named Ted are California, Ohio and Illinois, with 24% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 7,221 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Ohio | 5,133 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 4,445 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Texas | 4,053 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 3,840 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| New York | 3,111 | #1,736 | 0.5× |
| North Carolina | 2,766 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 2,649 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Indiana | 2,551 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Missouri | 1,907 | not ranked | 1.0× |
Where Ted is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ted is most over-represented in Utah: since 1910 it was given 2.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Ted with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 76,685 babies since 1880, Ted is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 37 of their 37 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ted
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Ted and names like it
- Compare Ted and TeddBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sTed peaked in 1958.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ted since 1910.
- The top names of 1958The year the most babies were named Ted.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Ted alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with TMost given first.