Humanverse

Devan vs Devany

American parents have registered 18,800 Devans since 1880, against 1,099 Devanys. Devan is still ahead, with 53 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Devan against Devany, 1880 to 2025 0 250 500 750 1k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Devan Devany

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

Devan has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1924 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2025, when Devan had 53 and Devany had 32.

Side by side

  Devan Devany
Total US births 18,8001,099
Most in one year 95855
Babies in 2025 5332
Estimated living today 18,0001,100
Median age today 2816
Peak year 19942009
Best rank 367th boys3,088th girls
Rank in 2025 2,516th4,352nd
First recorded 19241981
Girls / boys 5,161 / 13,6391,099 / 0

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 Devans alive today are over 28; half the Devanys are over 16. That is 12 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: Devan and Devany.