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Nanci vs Nancylee

American parents have registered 6,474 Nancis since 1880, against 387 Nancylees. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Nanci Nancylee

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 88 years in which either name was published, Nanci for 83 years and Nancylee for 5 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Nanci Nancylee
Total US births 6,474387
Most in one year 22225
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 5,300190
Median age today 6279
Peak year 19531940
Best rank 594th girls1,549th girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19281927
Girls / boys 6,474 / 0387 / 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 Nancylees alive today are over 79; half the Nancis are over 62. 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: Nanci and Nancylee.