Humanverse

Alan vs Alanni

American parents have registered 364,389 Alans since 1880, against 960 Alannis. Alan is still ahead, with 1,915 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Alan against Alanni, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Alan Alanni

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Alan has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1882 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2025, when Alan had 1,915 and Alanni had 98.

Side by side

  Alan Alanni
Total US births 364,389960
Most in one year 9,05298
Babies in 2025 1,91598
Estimated living today 270,000950
Median age today 555
Peak year 19552025
Best rank 43rd boys1,962nd girls
Rank in 2025 191st1,962nd
First recorded 18821996
Girls / boys 1,076 / 363,313960 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Alans alive today are over 55; half the Alannis are over 5. That is 50 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Alan and Alanni.