Humanverse

Laney vs Lantz

American parents have registered 14,360 Laneys since 1880, against 547 Lantzes. Laney is still ahead, with 421 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Laney against Lantz, 1880 to 2025 0 200 400 600 800 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Laney Lantz

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 115 years in which either name was published, Laney for 113 years and Lantz for 2 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Laney Lantz
Total US births 14,360547
Most in one year 64018
Babies in 2025 421under 5
Estimated living today 14,000510
Median age today 1533
Peak year 20061993
Best rank 486th girls3,501st boys
Rank in 2025 673rdunranked
First recorded 18831948
Girls / boys 14,024 / 3360 / 547

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 Lantzes alive today are over 33; half the Laneys are over 15. That is 18 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: Laney and Lantz.