Humanverse

Randell vs Ranny

American parents have registered 10,159 Randells since 1880, against 280 Rannys. Randell is still ahead, with 12 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Randell against Ranny, 1880 to 2025 0 100 200 300 400 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Randell Ranny

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

Randell has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1912 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1934, when Randell had 21 and Ranny had 7.

Side by side

  Randell Ranny
Total US births 10,159280
Most in one year 32117
Babies in 2025 12under 5
Estimated living today 7,700160
Median age today 5871
Peak year 19601951
Best rank 450th boys1,838th boys
Rank in 2025 6,803rdunranked
First recorded 19121934
Girls / boys 148 / 10,0115 / 275

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 Rannys alive today are over 71; half the Randells are over 58. That is 13 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: Randell and Ranny.