Humanverse

Daniel vs Dannye

American parents have registered 1,991,091 Daniels since 1880, against 64 Dannyes. Daniel is still ahead, with 8,093 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Daniel Dannye

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 1945, when Daniel had 9,740 and Dannye had 13.

Side by side

  Daniel Dannye
Total US births 1,991,09164
Most in one year 38,85320
Babies in 2025 8,093under 5
Estimated living today 1.6 million40
Median age today 4077
Peak year 19851947
Best rank 5th boys2,169th boys
Rank in 2025 22ndunranked
First recorded 18801945
Girls / boys 8,279 / 1,982,81214 / 50

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 Dannyes alive today are over 77; half the Daniels are over 40. That is 37 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: Daniel and Dannye.