Humanverse

Hannah vs Hanny

American parents have registered 466,406 Hannahs since 1880, against 189 Hannys. Hannah is still ahead, with 3,973 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Hannah against Hanny, 1880 to 2025 0 6k 12k 18k 24k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Hannah Hanny

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

Hannah has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2024, when Hannah had 4,078 and Hanny had 30.

Side by side

  Hannah Hanny
Total US births 466,406189
Most in one year 23,11230
Babies in 2025 3,97315
Estimated living today 441,000190
Median age today 245
Peak year 20002024
Best rank 2nd girls4,560th girls
Rank in 2025 56th7,133rd
First recorded 18802004
Girls / boys 465,685 / 721189 / 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 Hannahs alive today are over 24; half the Hannys are over 5. That is 19 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: Hannah and Hanny.