Humanverse

Candy vs Canyon

American parents have registered 28,625 Candys since 1880, against 4,086 Canyons. But in 2025 it was Canyon that was commoner, 115 babies to 30.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Candy against Canyon, 1880 to 2025 0 300 600 900 1.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Candy Canyon

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 104 years in which either name was published, Candy for 80 years and Canyon for 24 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Candy Canyon
Total US births 28,6254,086
Most in one year 1,044184
Babies in 2025 30115
Estimated living today 25,0004,000
Median age today 5515
Peak year 19702021
Best rank 281st girls1,179th boys
Rank in 2025 4,546th1,602nd
First recorded 18961972
Girls / boys 28,525 / 100259 / 3,827

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 Canyons are over 15. That is 40 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: Candy and Canyon.