Vander vs Vanessa
American parents have registered 262,606 Vanessas since 1880, against 1,828 Vanders. Vanessa is still ahead, with 813 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Vander Vanessa
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 122 years in which either name was published, Vanessa for 96 years and Vander for 26 years. The lead changed hands 11 times.
Side by side
| Vander | Vanessa | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,828 | 262,606 |
| Most in one year | 139 | 7,605 |
| Babies in 2025 | 139 | 813 |
| Estimated living today | 1,500 | 251,000 |
| Median age today | 9 | 35 |
| Peak year | 2025 | 1985 |
| Best rank | 1,352nd boys | 42nd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 1,352nd | 377th |
| First recorded | 1884 | 1900 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 1,828 | 261,622 / 984 |
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 Vanessas alive today are over 35; half the Vanders are over 9. That is 26 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Vander California (3.1×), Florida (3.0×), North Carolina (2.3×)
- Vanessa California (2.4×), Arizona (2.2×), Nevada (2.1×)
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: Vander and Vanessa.