Humanverse

Danay vs Danielle

American parents have registered 373,698 Danielles since 1880, against 690 Danays. Danielle is still ahead, with 550 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Danay against Danielle, 1880 to 2025 0 5k 10k 15k 20k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Danay Danielle

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

Danielle has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1937 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2016, when Danay had 20 and Danielle had 999.

Side by side

  Danay Danielle
Total US births 690373,698
Most in one year 3517,086
Babies in 2025 6550
Estimated living today 680361,000
Median age today 2137
Peak year 20051987
Best rank 4,029th girls14th girls
Rank in 2025 13,208th549th
First recorded 19711937
Girls / boys 690 / 0371,803 / 1,895

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 Danielles alive today are over 37; half the Danays are over 21. That is 16 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: Danay and Danielle.