Humanverse

Candace vs Cannie

American parents have registered 85,097 Candaces since 1880, against 230 Cannies. Candace is still ahead, with 50 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Candace against Cannie, 1880 to 2025 0 800 1.6k 2.4k 3.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Candace Cannie

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

Of the 136 years in which either name was published, Candace for 125 years and Cannie for 11 years. The lead changed hands 12 times.

9 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

  Candace Cannie
Total US births 85,097230
Most in one year 2,85911
Babies in 2025 50under 5
Estimated living today 76,00020
Median age today 4557
Peak year 19821893
Best rank 103rd girls901st girls
Rank in 2025 3,167thunranked
First recorded 18821888
Girls / boys 84,938 / 159225 / 5

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 Cannies alive today are over 57; half the Candaces are over 45. That is 12 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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