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Kohani vs Kohen

American parents have registered 8,561 Kohens since 1880, against 36 Kohanis. Kohen is still ahead, with 1,160 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kohani against Kohen, 1880 to 2025 0 300 600 900 1.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kohani Kohen

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

Kohen has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1996 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2024, when Kohani had 24 and Kohen had 1,098.

Side by side

  Kohani Kohen
Total US births 368,561
Most in one year 241,160
Babies in 2025 121,160
Estimated living today 408,500
Median age today 15
Peak year 20242025
Best rank 5,300th girls295th boys
Rank in 2025 8,362nd295th
First recorded 20241996
Girls / boys 36 / 0154 / 8,407

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 Kohens alive today are over 5; half the Kohanis are over 1. That is 4 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: Kohani and Kohen.