Humanverse

Bane vs Banner

American parents have registered 1,051 Banes since 1880, against 834 Banners. But in 2025 it was Banner that was commoner, 67 babies to 30.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Bane against Banner, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Bane Banner

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 37 years in which either name was published, Banner for 19 years and Bane for 18 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Bane Banner
Total US births 1,051834
Most in one year 12174
Babies in 2025 3067
Estimated living today 1,000780
Median age today 106
Peak year 20132023
Best rank 1,387th boys2,147th boys
Rank in 2025 3,658th2,145th
First recorded 19971916
Girls / boys 0 / 1,05135 / 799

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 Banes alive today are over 10; half the Banners are over 6. That is 4 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: Bane and Banner.