Humanverse

Kanani vs Kandi

American parents have registered 5,547 Kandis since 1880, against 900 Kananis. But in 2025 it was Kanani that was commoner, 13 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kanani against Kandi, 1880 to 2025 0 60 120 180 240 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kanani Kandi

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

Of the 81 years in which either name was published, Kandi for 53 years and Kanani for 28 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Kanani Kandi
Total US births 9005,547
Most in one year 31202
Babies in 2025 13under 5
Estimated living today 8805,100
Median age today 2550
Peak year 20001981
Best rank 3,983rd girls798th girls
Rank in 2025 7,885thunranked
First recorded 19641945
Girls / boys 895 / 55,547 / 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 Kandis alive today are over 50; half the Kananis are over 25. That is 25 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: Kanani and Kandi.