Humanverse

Nancylou vs Nannie

American parents have registered 25,580 Nannies since 1880, against 19 Nancylous. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Nancylou against Nannie, 1880 to 2025 0 200 400 600 800 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Nancylou Nannie

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

Nannie has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 1991. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1940, when Nancylou had 6 and Nannie had 203.

Side by side

  Nancylou Nannie
Total US births 1925,580
Most in one year 8655
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 72,400
Median age today 8580
Peak year 19341920
Best rank 3,159th girls258th girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19341880
Girls / boys 19 / 025,560 / 20

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 Nancylous alive today are over 85; half the Nannies are over 80. That is 5 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: Nancylou and Nannie.