Humanverse

Dan vs Danthony

American parents have registered 107,130 Dans since 1880, against 1,626 Danthonys. Dan is still ahead, with 88 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Dan Danthony

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 2013, when Dan had 88 and Danthony had 57.

Side by side

  Dan Danthony
Total US births 107,1301,626
Most in one year 3,70280
Babies in 2025 8814
Estimated living today 59,0001,600
Median age today 6520
Peak year 19602007
Best rank 111th boys1,811th boys
Rank in 2025 1,959th6,143rd
First recorded 18801970
Girls / boys 576 / 106,5540 / 1,626

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 Danthonys are over 20. That is 45 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: Dan and Danthony.