Humanverse

Imani vs Imaray

American parents have registered 29,212 Imanis since 1880, against 37 Imarays. Imani is still ahead, with 553 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Imani against Imaray, 1880 to 2025 0 400 800 1.2k 1.6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Imani Imaray

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

Imani has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1970 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2021, when Imani had 641 and Imaray had 17.

Side by side

  Imani Imaray
Total US births 29,21237
Most in one year 1,27217
Babies in 2025 553under 5
Estimated living today 29,00040
Median age today 203
Peak year 19982021
Best rank 253rd girls6,691st girls
Rank in 2025 579thunranked
First recorded 19702021
Girls / boys 27,817 / 1,39537 / 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 Imanis alive today are over 20; half the Imarays are over 3. That is 17 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: Imani and Imaray.