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Chad vs Chancey

American parents have registered 241,767 Chads since 1880, against 1,733 Chanceys. Chad is still ahead, with 96 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Chad against Chancey, 1880 to 2025 0 4k 8k 12k 16k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Chad Chancey

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 118 years in which either name was published, Chad for 104 years and Chancey for 14 years. The lead changed hands 9 times.

Side by side

  Chad Chancey
Total US births 241,7671,733
Most in one year 13,44169
Babies in 2025 967
Estimated living today 222,0001,400
Median age today 4636
Peak year 19721978
Best rank 25th boys1,229th boys
Rank in 2025 1,699th9,714th
First recorded 19141883
Girls / boys 1,039 / 240,728505 / 1,228

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 Chads alive today are over 46; half the Chanceys are over 36. That is 10 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: Chad and Chancey.