Humanverse

Dan vs Dannielynn

American parents have registered 107,130 Dans since 1880, against 62 Dannielynns. Dan is still ahead, with 88 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Dan Dannielynn

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 2007, when Dan had 150 and Dannielynn had 24.

Side by side

  Dan Dannielynn
Total US births 107,13062
Most in one year 3,70224
Babies in 2025 88under 5
Estimated living today 59,00060
Median age today 6517
Peak year 19602007
Best rank 111th boys5,709th girls
Rank in 2025 1,959thunranked
First recorded 18802007
Girls / boys 576 / 106,55462 / 0

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 Dans alive today are over 65; half the Dannielynns are over 17. That is 48 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 Dannielynn.