Lana vs Lanessa
American parents have registered 57,449 Lanas since 1880, against 531 Lanessas. Lana is still ahead, with 768 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Lana Lanessa
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
Lana has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1885 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1997, when Lana had 179 and Lanessa had 12.
Side by side
| Lana | Lanessa | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 57,449 | 531 |
| Most in one year | 1,470 | 21 |
| Babies in 2025 | 768 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 49,000 | 520 |
| Median age today | 48 | 31 |
| Peak year | 1948 | 2008 |
| Best rank | 188th girls | 6,350th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 406th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1885 | 1969 |
| Girls / boys | 57,434 / 15 | 531 / 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 Lanas alive today are over 48; half the Lanessas are over 31. 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: Lana and Lanessa.