Humanverse

Nandini vs Nannie

American parents have registered 25,580 Nannies since 1880, against 949 Nandinis. But in 2025 it was Nandini that was commoner, 24 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Nandini Nannie

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 139 years in which either name was published, Nannie for 102 years and Nandini for 37 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Nandini Nannie
Total US births 94925,580
Most in one year 56655
Babies in 2025 24under 5
Estimated living today 9402,400
Median age today 1780
Peak year 20061920
Best rank 3,017th girls258th girls
Rank in 2025 5,238thunranked
First recorded 19731880
Girls / boys 949 / 025,560 / 20

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 Nannies alive today are over 80; half the Nandinis are over 17. That is 63 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: Nandini and Nannie.