Head to head · Boys' names
Gideon vs Martin
#337 vs #335 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Martin is a whisker ahead (#335 vs #337 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. 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, Martin leads 4 measures of 6; Gideon leads 0.
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
- 1880s: Gideon #673, Martin #50 — Martin higher
- 1890s: Gideon #915, Martin #62 — Martin higher
- 1900s: Gideon #988, Martin #75 — Martin higher
- 1910s: Gideon #1387, Martin #78 — Martin higher
- 1920s: Gideon #1658, Martin #81 — Martin higher
- 1930s: Gideon #2272, Martin #89 — Martin higher
- 1940s: Gideon #2235, Martin #87 — Martin higher
- 1950s: Gideon #2004, Martin #78 — Martin higher
- 1960s: Gideon #1826, Martin #72 — Martin higher
- 1970s: Gideon #1393, Martin #115 — Martin higher
- 1980s: Gideon #1148, Martin #123 — Martin higher
- 1990s: Gideon #1101, Martin #140 — Martin higher
- 2000s: Gideon #655, Martin #202 — Martin higher
- 2010s: Gideon #357, Martin #268 — Martin higher
- 2020s: Gideon #324, Martin #304 — Martin higher
Martin stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Gideon | Martin |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #673 | #50 |
| 1890s | #915 | #62 |
| 1900s | #988 | #75 |
| 1910s | #1387 | #78 |
| 1920s | #1658 | #81 |
| 1930s | #2272 | #89 |
| 1940s | #2235 | #87 |
| 1950s | #2004 | #78 |
| 1960s | #1826 | #72 |
| 1970s | #1393 | #115 |
| 1980s | #1148 | #123 |
| 1990s | #1101 | #140 |
| 2000s | #655 | #202 |
| 2010s | #357 | #268 |
| 2020s | #324 | #304 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Gideon
Not charting outside the US.
Martin
- France#34
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Gideon
hewer, one who cuts down
From the Hebrew root gadaʿ, to cut down or fell. The looser gloss 'mighty warrior' that circulates in name lists comes not from the word itself but from the greeting given to the biblical Gideon, 'mighty man of valor'.
Gidʿon (Hebrew) → Gedeōn (Greek) → Gedeon (Latin) → Gideon (English)
How it traveled
The name is Hebrew, borne in the Book of Judges by the figure who threshes wheat in a winepress and later pulls down his father's altar to Baal. Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible wrote it Gedeōn, and Latin carried that form into medieval Europe, where it stayed largely a scriptural word rather than a name for children.
Martin
of Mars
The Latin name derives from the war god, in the ordinary Roman way of forming names from divine ones, and the reading is settled. The irony is not lost on anyone: the saint who made the name universal was a Roman soldier who refused to fight, on the grounds that he was a soldier of Christ, and was imprisoned as a coward before being let go.
A Latin name formed from the war god → A fourth-century soldier who refused to fight → One of the most widely observed feast days in Europe → Martin in continuous use in every European language
How it traveled
The goose story appears early and stuck. The feast falls on the eleventh of November, which in the northern European farming year is the point where the grazing ends, the animals that cannot be overwintered are killed, the salting begins and the new wine is ready.
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
Gideon
GID-ee-un
Hard G, as in give — not the soft J sound of gin. Stress on the first syllable. Modern Hebrew places the stress at the other end: gid-OHN.
- Gid — The traditional American short form, in use since the nineteenth century; informal, mostly family and close friends.
- Giddy — Affectionate and childhood-era; overlaps with the ordinary English word, so it tends to fall away by school age.
- Deon — Taken from the back half of the name; also a standalone given name in its own right.
- G — Single-letter shortening common among schoolmates and teammates.
Martin
MAR-tin
Two syllables, stress on the first, in English. French drops the final n into a nasal vowel and puts the stress at the back, and Spanish puts it at the back with an accent to say so, so the same spelling is said three ways across Europe.
- Marty — The American softening, unisex and thoroughly mid-century in feel.
- Tino — The Spanish and Italian clipping, taken from the back and sounding nothing like the front.
- Mart — Blunt and flat, and common in Dutch and Estonian use as a full name.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Gideon if you want…
- a name with more sound in itGideon runs 3 syllables, Martin 2
- a name that feels very nowGideon is holding its place on the charts
Choose Martin if you want…
- a name holding steadyMartin is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesMartin is 2 syllables to Gideon's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooMartin is on the national lists of France
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 40% for Gideon
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
Gideon
Strengths
- One unambiguous spelling in English, and it has been written that way for centuries — no variant to correct on forms.
- A continuous record in American use stretching back to the Puritan settlers, so it reads as established rather than newly coined.
- Recognizable across French, Spanish, Dutch, Russian and Hebrew, with the same three-part shape in each.
To consider
- The hard G trips some readers, who reach for a J sound on first sight. It is a one-time correction, but it will recur through school, doctors' offices and new jobs.
- Gideons International has placed Bibles in hotel rooms since the late nineteenth century, so for many Americans the word arrives with a bedside-drawer association attached before the child does.
- Giddy is the obvious playground rhyme, and some children take to it while others do not.
Martin
Strengths
- It is used unchanged in more European languages than almost any other name.
- It is completely familiar, universally spellable and needs no explaining.
- It has an unbroken record of about seventeen hundred years.
To consider
- The stress falls differently in English, French and Spanish, which a bilingual family will notice.
- It is also an extremely common surname, which occasionally causes confusion on forms.
- The spelling is on the register for girls as well, in very small numbers.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Gideon
40%chance Gideon feels dated by 2040
Gideon sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Martin
12%chance Martin feels dated by 2040
Martin has held the top-100 across 9 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Gideon and Martin 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 Gideon and Martin?
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 that carry both names
Every list here names both Gideon and Martin — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Gideon or Martin — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Gideon or Martin?
- Martin, in 2025: Martin ranked #335 with 1,009 babies; Gideon ranked #337 with 993 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Gideon or Martin?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Gideon moved down 16 places; Martin moved down 42 places.
- Which is the older name, Gideon or Martin?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Gideon and Martin?
- About 21,000 people named Gideon are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 204,000 people named Martin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Gideons or Martins in the classroom?
- Gideon will almost certainly be the only one in school. Martin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. 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 Gideon, Martin and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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