Humanverse

Dan vs Danzel

American parents have registered 107,130 Dans since 1880, against 614 Danzels. Dan is still ahead, with 88 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Dan Danzel

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 1991, when Dan had 230 and Danzel had 84.

Side by side

  Dan Danzel
Total US births 107,130614
Most in one year 3,70284
Babies in 2025 886
Estimated living today 59,000600
Median age today 6531
Peak year 19601991
Best rank 111th boys1,210th boys
Rank in 2025 1,959th10,695th
First recorded 18801983
Girls / boys 576 / 106,5540 / 614

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 Danzels are over 31. That is 34 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 Danzel.