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Hanny vs Hans

American parents have registered 15,682 Hanses since 1880, against 189 Hannys. Hans is still ahead, with 146 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Hanny against Hans, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Hanny Hans

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

Hans 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 2024, when Hanny had 30 and Hans had 145.

Side by side

  Hanny Hans
Total US births 18915,682
Most in one year 30271
Babies in 2025 15146
Estimated living today 19011,000
Median age today 543
Peak year 20241970
Best rank 4,560th girls492nd boys
Rank in 2025 7,133rd1,323rd
First recorded 20041880
Girls / boys 189 / 05 / 15,677

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 Hanses alive today are over 43; half the Hannys are over 5. That is 38 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: Hanny and Hans.