Candy vs Cannon
American parents have registered 28,625 Candys since 1880, against 11,207 Cannons. But in 2025 it was Cannon that was commoner, 374 babies to 30.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Candy Cannon
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 109 years in which either name was published, Candy for 75 years and Cannon for 34 years. The lead changed hands 11 times.
Side by side
| Candy | Cannon | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 28,625 | 11,207 |
| Most in one year | 1,044 | 595 |
| Babies in 2025 | 30 | 374 |
| Estimated living today | 25,000 | 11,000 |
| Median age today | 55 | 11 |
| Peak year | 1970 | 2021 |
| Best rank | 281st girls | 506th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 4,546th | 721st |
| First recorded | 1896 | 1904 |
| Girls / boys | 28,525 / 100 | 229 / 10,978 |
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 Candys alive today are over 55; half the Cannons are over 11. That is 44 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Candy Indiana (1.7×), Ohio (1.6×), California (1.5×)
- Cannon Utah (5.6×), Idaho (3.4×), Tennessee (2.8×)
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: Candy and Cannon.