Chancey vs Charlene
American parents have registered 134,111 Charlenes since 1880, against 1,733 Chanceys. Charlene is still ahead, with 99 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Chancey Charlene
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 135 years in which either name was published, Charlene for 131 years and Chancey for 4 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.
Side by side
| Chancey | Charlene | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,733 | 134,111 |
| Most in one year | 69 | 3,557 |
| Babies in 2025 | 7 | 99 |
| Estimated living today | 1,400 | 96,000 |
| Median age today | 36 | 65 |
| Peak year | 1978 | 1952 |
| Best rank | 1,229th boys | 106th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 9,714th | 1,942nd |
| First recorded | 1883 | 1888 |
| Girls / boys | 505 / 1,228 | 133,729 / 382 |
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 Charlenes alive today are over 65; half the Chanceys are over 36. That is 29 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: Chancey and Charlene.