Vane vs Vanessa
American parents have registered 262,606 Vanessas since 1880, against 152 Vanes. Vanessa is still ahead, with 813 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Vane Vanessa
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, Vanessa for 102 years and Vane for 13 years. The lead changed hands 9 times.
Side by side
| Vane | Vanessa | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 152 | 262,606 |
| Most in one year | 11 | 7,605 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 813 |
| Estimated living today | 12 | 251,000 |
| Median age today | 70 | 35 |
| Peak year | 1919 | 1985 |
| Best rank | 2,511th boys | 42nd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 377th |
| First recorded | 1892 | 1900 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 152 | 261,622 / 984 |
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 Vanes alive today are over 70; half the Vanessas are over 35. That is 35 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: Vane and Vanessa.