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Kwamaine vs Kwan

American parents have registered 564 Kwans since 1880, against 149 Kwamaines. Kwan is still ahead, with 7 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kwamaine against Kwan, 1880 to 2025 0 10 20 30 40 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kwamaine Kwan

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 54 years in which either name was published, Kwan for 48 years and Kwamaine for 6 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.

Side by side

  Kwamaine Kwan
Total US births 149564
Most in one year 3425
Babies in 2025 under 57
Estimated living today 140540
Median age today 3432
Peak year 19901975
Best rank 2,128th boys2,134th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked9,714th
First recorded 19891969
Girls / boys 0 / 14927 / 537

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 Kwamaines alive today are over 34; half the Kwans are over 32. That is 2 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: Kwamaine and Kwan.