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Dan vs Danney

American parents have registered 107,130 Dans since 1880, against 517 Danneys. Dan is still ahead, with 88 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Dan against Danney, 1880 to 2025 0 1k 2k 3k 4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Dan Danney

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

Dan has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2014, when Dan had 102 and Danney had 5.

Side by side

  Dan Danney
Total US births 107,130517
Most in one year 3,70229
Babies in 2025 88under 5
Estimated living today 59,000360
Median age today 6567
Peak year 19601954
Best rank 111th boys1,408th boys
Rank in 2025 1,959thunranked
First recorded 18801937
Girls / boys 576 / 106,5545 / 512

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 Danneys alive today are over 67; half the Dans are over 65. That is 2 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: Dan and Danney.