Names/T

Terry

boys’ name · 81%girls’ name · 19%FadedCompare

Terry is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 174 births. Its best rank was 26th, in 1946–1948.

Rank in 2024
outside the top 1,000
Births in 2024
1740.01% of boys
Peak year
195715,618 births
Best rank
#26first in 1946
Since 1880
521,274people given the name
Babies named Terry, by year of birthboysgirls
05k10k15k20k18801900192019401960198020002020

The story in the numbers

424,330 boys have been named Terry in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1957, with 15,618 births — 0.72% of all boys recorded that year.

The name has all but left use: 174 births in 2024, against 15,618 at the peak.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1958, and the 1950s alone account for 33%. It has spent 140 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 42 of them in the top 100.

Terry is used for both sexes: 19% of its bearers are girls (96,944), most of them born around 1955.

Rank among boys, year by year

Higher on the chart = more popularrank (gaps = outside the top 1,000)
#1#250#500#750#100018801900192019401960198020002020

By decade

Decadeboys named Terry
1880s98
1890s118
1900s186
1910s711
1920s1,646
1930s11,024
1940s76,966
1950s140,724
1960s101,484
1970s42,427
1980s24,157
1990s13,043
2000s6,638
2010s4,047
2020s1,061

In 1957, its biggest year

Terry was the 33rd most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1957 were Michael, James, David, Robert and John. See all of 1957.

Names that rose and fell with Terry

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.