Humanverse

Nance vs Nanci

American parents have registered 6,474 Nancis since 1880, against 771 Nances. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Nance Nanci

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 98 years in which either name was published, Nanci for 80 years and Nance for 18 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Nance Nanci
Total US births 7716,474
Most in one year 32222
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 4205,300
Median age today 7362
Peak year 19471953
Best rank 1,697th girls594th girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19131928
Girls / boys 761 / 106,474 / 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 Nances alive today are over 73; half the Nancis are over 62. That is 11 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: Nance and Nanci.