Humanverse

Danean vs Daniel

American parents have registered 1,991,091 Daniels since 1880, against 127 Daneans. Daniel is still ahead, with 8,093 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Danean against Daniel, 1880 to 2025 0 10k 20k 30k 40k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Danean Daniel

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

Daniel 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 1964, when Danean had 14 and Daniel had 24,418.

Side by side

  Danean Daniel
Total US births 1271,991,091
Most in one year 1438,853
Babies in 2025 under 58,093
Estimated living today 1201.6 million
Median age today 5540
Peak year 19641985
Best rank 3,515th girls5th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked22nd
First recorded 19641880
Girls / boys 127 / 08,279 / 1,982,812

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 Daneans alive today are over 55; half the Daniels are over 40. That is 15 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: Danean and Daniel.