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Sanford vs Sanna

American parents have registered 15,044 Sanfords since 1880, against 731 Sannas. Sanford is still ahead, with 12 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Sanford against Sanna, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Sanford Sanna

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 146 years in which either name was published, Sanford for 136 years and Sanna for 10 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.

Side by side

  Sanford Sanna
Total US births 15,044731
Most in one year 31521
Babies in 2025 128
Estimated living today 5,500660
Median age today 6730
Peak year 19292008
Best rank 311th boys6,350th girls
Rank in 2025 6,803rd10,917th
First recorded 18801894
Girls / boys 0 / 15,044731 / 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 Sanfords alive today are over 67; half the Sannas are over 30. That is 37 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: Sanford and Sanna.