Humanverse

Danean vs Danny

American parents have registered 288,341 Dannys since 1880, against 127 Daneans. Danny is still ahead, with 462 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Danean against Danny, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Danean Danny

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

Danny has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1900 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1997, when Danean had 5 and Danny had 1,153.

Side by side

  Danean Danny
Total US births 127288,341
Most in one year 149,126
Babies in 2025 under 5462
Estimated living today 120212,000
Median age today 5562
Peak year 19641954
Best rank 3,515th girls42nd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked628th
First recorded 19641900
Girls / boys 127 / 01,693 / 286,648

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 Dannys alive today are over 62; half the Daneans are over 55. That is 7 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 Danny.