Head to head · Boys' names
Tommy vs Trevor
#657 vs #679 in 2025
Tommy is a whisker ahead (#657 vs #679 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Tommy is holding its place on the charts, Trevor is stepping back from its peak.
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; Trevor leads 2.
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: Tommy #671, Trevor — — Tommy higher
- 1890s: Tommy #505, Trevor — — Tommy higher
- 1900s: Tommy #328, Trevor — — Tommy higher
- 1910s: Tommy #350, Trevor #2453 — Tommy higher
- 1920s: Tommy #219, Trevor #2632 — Tommy higher
- 1930s: Tommy #98, Trevor #2045 — Tommy higher
- 1940s: Tommy #76, Trevor #1533 — Tommy higher
- 1950s: Tommy #102, Trevor #1151 — Tommy higher
- 1960s: Tommy #118, Trevor #567 — Tommy higher
- 1970s: Tommy #161, Trevor #193 — Tommy higher
- 1980s: Tommy #229, Trevor #117 — Trevor higher
- 1990s: Tommy #299, Trevor #64 — Trevor higher
- 2000s: Tommy #422, Trevor #111 — Trevor higher
- 2010s: Tommy #683, Trevor #282 — Trevor higher
- 2020s: Tommy #713, Trevor #543 — Trevor higher
Tommy stood higher in 10 of 15 decades; Trevor has held the lead since the 1980s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Tommy | Trevor |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #671 | — |
| 1890s | #505 | — |
| 1900s | #328 | — |
| 1910s | #350 | #2453 |
| 1920s | #219 | #2632 |
| 1930s | #98 | #2045 |
| 1940s | #76 | #1533 |
| 1950s | #102 | #1151 |
| 1960s | #118 | #567 |
| 1970s | #161 | #193 |
| 1980s | #229 | #117 |
| 1990s | #299 | #64 |
| 2000s | #422 | #111 |
| 2010s | #683 | #282 |
| 2020s | #713 | #543 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Tommy
- Scotland#26
- England & Wales#39
Trevor
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Trevor
Big settlement
From Welsh Trefor, from tref, 'homestead, town', and mawr, 'big'.
Trefor → Trevor
How it traveled
In Johannesburg in the 1950s the English priest Trevor Huddleston, who fought apartheid from the township of Sophiatown, gave a schoolboy called Hugh Masekela his first trumpet; Masekela became one of the great jazz musicians of Africa, and Louis Armstrong later sent the school band another. In 1945 Trevor Howard played the doctor in David Lean's Brief Encounter, who falls in love with a married woman at a railway station and lets her go.
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
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.
Trevor
TREV-er
Two syllables with the stress on the first.
- Trev — The usual short form.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Tommy if you want…
- a name most people already know#657 in 2025, 420 babies that year
- a name on the way upup 87 places on the charts in five years
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Tom, Tommo and Thomas
- a name that charts abroad tooTommy is on the national lists of Scotland and England & Wales
Choose Trevor if you want…
- a name fewer children share#679 in 2025 — trevor will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name past its most crowded yearsTrevor is stepping back from its peak
- a name that stays wholeone recorded short form for Trevor (Trev)
- a newer arrivalTrevor entered the US charts in 1915
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
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.
Trevor
Strengths
- Instantly recognized and spelled as everyone expects.
- A settled Welsh meaning.
- Comes with Trev as a ready short form.
To consider
- It was very common a generation ago, so it reads as a name of that era.
- In Britain it can sound more middle-aged than it does in America.
- For a girl it would be very unusual.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Tommy
40%chance Tommy feels dated by 2040
Tommy 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.
Trevor
73%chance Trevor feels dated by 2040
Trevor is coming down from a big peak (#58 in 1994). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
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 Tommy and Trevor 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 Tommy and Trevor?
Put both to the vote.
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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 Tommy and Trevor — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Tommy or Trevor — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Tommy or Trevor?
- Tommy, in 2025: Tommy ranked #657 with 420 babies; Trevor ranked #679 with 400 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Tommy or Trevor?
- Tommy. Over the last five years Tommy moved up 87 places; Trevor moved down 273 places.
- Which is the older name, Tommy or Trevor?
- Tommy was already in use when US records began in 1880; Trevor entered the US charts in 1915. On the American record, Tommy is the older name.
- How many people are named Tommy and Trevor?
- About 117,000 people named Tommy are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 155,000 people named Trevor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Tommys or Trevors in the classroom?
- Tommy will almost certainly be the only one in school. Trevor 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
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