Humanverse

Delaney vs Delian

American parents have registered 46,650 Delaneys since 1880, against 5 Delians. Delaney is still ahead, with 1,295 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Delaney against Delian, 1880 to 2025 0 600 1.2k 1.8k 2.4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Delaney Delian

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

Delaney has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1912 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2019, when Delaney had 1,167 and Delian had 5.

Side by side

  Delaney Delian
Total US births 46,6505
Most in one year 2,0305
Babies in 2025 1,295under 5
Estimated living today 46,0005
Median age today 176
Peak year 20042019
Best rank 169th girls12,145th boys
Rank in 2025 242ndunranked
First recorded 19122019
Girls / boys 45,437 / 1,2130 / 5

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 Delaneys alive today are over 17; half the Delians are over 6. That is 11 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: Delaney and Delian.