Humanverse

Klani vs Klay

American parents have registered 1,616 Klays since 1880, against 549 Klanis. Klay is still ahead, with 84 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Klani against Klay, 1880 to 2025 0 30 60 90 120 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Klani Klay

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 60 years in which either name was published, Klay for 58 years and Klani for 2 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Klani Klay
Total US births 5491,616
Most in one year 81103
Babies in 2025 7784
Estimated living today 5501,600
Median age today 39
Peak year 20242022
Best rank 2,282nd girls1,665th boys
Rank in 2025 2,354th1,867th
First recorded 20071958
Girls / boys 549 / 00 / 1,616

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 Klays alive today are over 9; half the Klanis are over 3. That is 6 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: Klani and Klay.