Humanverse

Callan vs Callyn

American parents have registered 12,634 Callans since 1880, against 607 Callyns. Callan is still ahead, with 1,983 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Callan against Callyn, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Callan Callyn

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

Callan has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1957 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1995, when Callan had 57 and Callyn had 16.

Side by side

  Callan Callyn
Total US births 12,634607
Most in one year 1,98344
Babies in 2025 1,98344
Estimated living today 13,000600
Median age today 412
Peak year 20252025
Best rank 190th boys3,780th girls
Rank in 2025 190th3,780th
First recorded 19571986
Girls / boys 1,470 / 11,164584 / 23

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 Callyns alive today are over 12; half the Callans are over 4. That is 8 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: Callan and Callyn.