Head to head · Boys' names
Jaime vs Tommy
#657 vs #657 in 2025
Jaime and Tommy share the same spot on the 2025 charts (#657). The records cannot split them; sound and story 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, Tommy leads 4 measures of 6; Jaime 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: Jaime —, Tommy #671 — Tommy higher
- 1890s: Jaime —, Tommy #505 — Tommy higher
- 1900s: Jaime —, Tommy #328 — Tommy higher
- 1910s: Jaime #3134, Tommy #350 — Tommy higher
- 1920s: Jaime #2081, Tommy #219 — Tommy higher
- 1930s: Jaime #1162, Tommy #98 — Tommy higher
- 1940s: Jaime #811, Tommy #76 — Tommy higher
- 1950s: Jaime #416, Tommy #102 — Tommy higher
- 1960s: Jaime #287, Tommy #118 — Tommy higher
- 1970s: Jaime #199, Tommy #161 — Tommy higher
- 1980s: Jaime #196, Tommy #229 — Jaime higher
- 1990s: Jaime #225, Tommy #299 — Jaime higher
- 2000s: Jaime #278, Tommy #422 — Jaime higher
- 2010s: Jaime #453, Tommy #683 — Jaime higher
- 2020s: Jaime #603, Tommy #713 — Jaime higher
Tommy stood higher in 10 of 15 decades; Jaime has held the lead since the 1980s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Jaime | Tommy |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #671 |
| 1890s | — | #505 |
| 1900s | — | #328 |
| 1910s | #3134 | #350 |
| 1920s | #2081 | #219 |
| 1930s | #1162 | #98 |
| 1940s | #811 | #76 |
| 1950s | #416 | #102 |
| 1960s | #287 | #118 |
| 1970s | #199 | #161 |
| 1980s | #196 | #229 |
| 1990s | #225 | #299 |
| 2000s | #278 | #422 |
| 2010s | #453 | #683 |
| 2020s | #603 | #713 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Jaime
Not charting outside the US.
Tommy
- Scotland#26
- England & Wales#39
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Jaime
From Hebrew Ya'aqov, read either as "holder of the heel / supplanter" or "may God protect"
The Hebrew name Ya'aqov is linked in Genesis to 'aqev, "heel" — Jacob grasping his twin's heel at birth — which gives the traditional reading "supplanter". Semitic scholarship also reads it as a shortened sentence-name meaning roughly "may God protect". Both readings are serious and both are old; neither has pushed the other out.
Ya'aqov → Iakobos → Iacobus → Iacomus → Jaime
How it traveled
The name begins as Hebrew Ya'aqov, becomes Iakobos in the Greek of the New Testament, then Iacobus in Latin. In late spoken Latin the b softened toward m — Iacomus — and that variant is the ancestor of Jaime, Jaume, Giacomo and Jacques, while the older Iacobus line gave Spanish Santiago and Diego and English Jacob.
Tommy
twin
Thomas comes from Aramaic te'oma, 'twin'. The Gospel of John glosses the apostle's name with the Greek Didymos, which also means twin.
Te'oma → Thomas → Tom → Tommy
How it traveled
Thomas reached Europe as the name of one of the twelve apostles, and the Gospel of John twice explains it for Greek readers as 'the twin'. It was rare in England until the murder of Thomas Becket in the twelfth century made his shrine at Canterbury one of the great pilgrimage sites of Christendom, after which Thomas became one of the most common men's names in the language.
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
Jaime
HIGH-meh (Spanish) or JAY-mee (English)
In Spanish the J is a breathy H and the final E is sounded: HIGH-meh. Many English speakers default to JAY-mee, treating it as a spelling of Jamie. Both are in real use in the US, so a bearer usually ends up choosing which one to answer to.
- Jaimito — The standard Spanish diminutive, used affectionately in families and mostly for children.
- Jimmy — Used by some bilingual bearers as an English-side everyday name, borrowed from James rather than derived from Jaime.
- Jai — An informal English clip heard in the US; does not stand alone as a given name in Spanish.
Tommy
TOM-ee
Stress on the first syllable. One of the rare English names almost no one has to ask about twice, in speech or in spelling.
- Tom — The shorter clip, used both as a nickname for Tommy and as a standalone given name in its own right.
- Tommo — Informal, chiefly British, Irish and Australian; common on sports fields and among friends rather than family.
- Thomas — Works in reverse: many boys registered as Thomas go by Tommy, so the full form is often available as the formal option.
- Tam — The Scottish clip of Thomas, still heard in Scotland; used informally and sometimes as a name on its own.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Jaime if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsJaime is stepping back from its peak
- a newer arrivalJaime entered the US charts in 1916
Choose Tommy if you want…
- a name on the way upup 87 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooTommy is on the national lists of Scotland and England & Wales
- a long American recordTommy was already in use when US records began in 1880
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
Jaime
Strengths
- Two established pronunciations aside, the spelling itself is familiar to both English and Spanish readers — few people will ask how to write it.
- Sits in one of the longest documented name lines in the world, running from biblical Hebrew through Greek and Latin into modern Spanish.
- Has close counterparts in most European languages — James, Jacques, Giacomo, Jaume — so it travels without being translated away.
To consider
- The pronunciation genuinely splits: HIGH-meh in Spanish, JAY-mee in much of American English. Neither is wrong, but a Jaime in a mixed environment will correct people, or answer to both.
- In US records this spelling has also been given to girls, as a variant of Jamie, so paperwork and strangers occasionally assume a girl. Worth knowing, though the Spanish masculine use is centuries older and far better established.
- It is easing back from the level it once reached, which means grown Jaimes are more common than small ones — a classroom is unlikely to hold two.
Tommy
Strengths
- Everyone already knows how to spell it and how to say it, on both sides of the Atlantic.
- Comes with a ready ladder of registers: Thomas for a diploma, Tommy day to day, Tom in one syllable.
- Unbroken presence in American records from the beginning of the count to now, without a fashionable spike to date it.
To consider
- It reads as informal. Some parents register Thomas and use Tommy at home, which keeps a more formal option in reserve for adult life; if you register Tommy, that option isn't there.
- It is strongly represented among older generations, so it may be heard as a name from an earlier era before it is heard as a small boy's name.
- There are stray associations in English: the Thompson submachine gun was nicknamed the tommy gun, British soldiers of the First World War were Tommies, and the surname turns up on clothing labels. None of them tend to attach to an actual person for long.
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 Jaime and Tommy in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
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Where Jaime and Tommy each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Jaime or Tommy — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Jaime or Tommy?
- They tie in 2025: Jaime ranked #657 with 420 babies; Tommy ranked #657 with 420 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Jaime or Tommy?
- Tommy. Over the last five years Jaime moved down 96 places; Tommy moved up 87 places.
- Which is the older name, Jaime or Tommy?
- Jaime entered the US charts in 1916; Tommy was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Tommy is the older name.
- How many people are named Jaime and Tommy?
- About 66,000 people named Jaime are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 117,000 people named Tommy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Jaimes or Tommys in the classroom?
- Jaime will almost certainly be the only one in school. Tommy 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
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