Head to head · Girls' names
Drew vs Robin
#705 vs #704 in 2025 · both back after a long quiet spell
Robin is a whisker ahead (#704 vs #705 in 2025) and both are back after a long quiet spell. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Robin leads 5 measures of 6; Drew leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1900s: Drew —, Robin #1934 — Robin higher
- 1910s: Drew #3869, Robin #2602 — Robin higher
- 1920s: Drew #4716, Robin #1582 — Robin higher
- 1930s: Drew #4266, Robin #856 — Robin higher
- 1940s: Drew #4174, Robin #329 — Robin higher
- 1950s: Drew #3474, Robin #64 — Robin higher
- 1960s: Drew #4621, Robin #35 — Robin higher
- 1970s: Drew #7362, Robin #69 — Robin higher
- 1980s: Drew #2493, Robin #132 — Robin higher
- 1990s: Drew #1039, Robin #353 — Robin higher
- 2000s: Drew #1091, Robin #1007 — Robin higher
- 2010s: Drew #1213, Robin #1175 — Robin higher
- 2020s: Drew #794, Robin #828 — Drew higher
Robin stood higher in 12 of 13 decades; Drew took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Drew | Robin |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | — | #1934 |
| 1910s | #3869 | #2602 |
| 1920s | #4716 | #1582 |
| 1930s | #4266 | #856 |
| 1940s | #4174 | #329 |
| 1950s | #3474 | #64 |
| 1960s | #4621 | #35 |
| 1970s | #7362 | #69 |
| 1980s | #2493 | #132 |
| 1990s | #1039 | #353 |
| 2000s | #1091 | #1007 |
| 2010s | #1213 | #1175 |
| 2020s | #794 | #828 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Drew
man, from the Greek for "man"
Drew carries the meaning of Andrew, from Greek Andreas, built on andr-, "man". The English surname Drew has a separate and less certain history, tied to the Norman personal name Drogo.
Andreas → Andrew → Drew
How it traveled
Drew began as a clipped form of Andrew, the English version of Greek Andreas — the name the Greek New Testament gives to one of the fishermen among the twelve apostles, which is why it spread across Christian Europe in dozens of shapes. Medieval English speakers habitually trimmed the front off long names, and Andrew gave up its first syllable the way Nicholas gave up its last.
Robin
bright fame — through Robert
Robin is the medieval French and English pet form of Robert, from the Germanic Hrodebert: hrod, 'fame', plus beraht, 'bright'. The garden bird carries the same name because English speakers handed it one.
Hrodebert → Robert → Robin
How it traveled
The Germanic name Hrodebert traveled into France with the Normans as Robert, and French speakers built the affectionate Robin from it with the little -in ending they used for pet forms. It crossed to England after the Conquest and became one of the commonest men's names of the later Middle Ages — common enough that the Robin Hood ballads, circulating by the fourteenth century, could use it as a plain man's name.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Drew
DROO
One syllable, rhyming with "true". The same in American and British English, and easy for speakers of most other languages to approximate.
- Dru — A spelling variant used informally, and also given as a name on its own; indistinguishable from Drew when spoken.
Robin
ROB-in
Stress on the first syllable. Said the same for a girl or a boy, and the same in French apart from a lighter final n.
- Rob — Informal; also stands alone as a given name in its own right, more often for men.
- Robbie — Informal, used for either sex, and independently given as a full name too.
- Bin — Family-level and rare; almost never used outside the household.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Drew if you want…
- a name on the way upup 238 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesDrew is 1 syllable to Robin's 2
- a name that stays wholeone recorded short form for Drew (Dru)
Choose Robin if you want…
- a name with more sound in itRobin runs 2 syllables, Drew 1
- plenty of nickname options3 recorded short forms — Rob, Robbie and Bin
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Drew
Strengths
- One syllable and four letters, spelled the way an ordinary English word is spelled — rarely misheard, almost never misspelled once heard.
- Works as a full legal name or as the short form of Andrew, so a child can grow into either without paperwork.
- Recorded continuously in American births across every shift in naming fashion, so it reads as neither new nor dated.
To consider
- It leans to boys without settling there, so a girl named Drew will occasionally be read as male on forms, rosters and email before anyone meets her. Most families find this a small, manageable friction rather than a problem.
- There is no shorter form and no obvious affectionate variant — Drew is already the nickname. Some parents choose Andrew on the certificate to keep a longer option in reserve.
- It is also the past tense of "draw", which means autocorrect and casual readers occasionally treat it as a verb. In speech this never comes up.
Robin
Strengths
- Spelled and pronounced correctly on first sight by nearly every English speaker, with no accents or silent letters.
- An unbroken record of use since the Middle Ages, so it reads as familiar rather than invented.
- Works as-is in French, German, Swedish and Czech — one of the few English nicknames that needs no translation.
To consider
- The girl–boy split is close to even, so the name alone tells a teacher or a form-filler nothing. Some families like that; others find the constant small corrections tiring.
- Robyn is a well-established alternative spelling, which means a lifetime of being asked "with an i or a y?"
- It is still strongly represented among older generations, so most adults will have known a Robin decades their senior — pleasant for some ears, dated to others.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Drew and Robin in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Drew and Robin?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- One-syllable names: said in a single beat
- Midcentury modern: tomorrow's comeback bets
- Names that belong entirely to the 1960s
- Names ending in -in
- all guides
Where Drew and Robin each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Drew or Robin — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Drew or Robin?
- Robin, in 2025: Robin ranked #704 with 400 babies; Drew ranked #705 with 399 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Drew or Robin?
- Drew. Over the last five years Drew moved up 238 places; Robin moved up 196 places.
- Which is the older name, Drew or Robin?
- Drew entered the US charts in 1918; Robin entered the US charts in 1904. On the American record, Robin is the older name.
- How many people are named Drew and Robin?
- About 9,300 people named Drew are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 260,000 people named Robin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Drews or Robins in the classroom?
- Drew will almost certainly be the only one in school. Robin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Drew, Robin and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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