US baby names · Girls · 1880–2025
Nancy: name popularity by year
How often US parents chose Nancy for a baby girl, year by year, from Social Security Administration records. When it peaked, how long it stayed in the top 10, and which generation it belongs to.
Nancy was one of the 10 most common girls' names in the US in 22 years, between 1934 and 1955, reaching #6. Births peaked in 1947, when 32,445 baby girls were named Nancy, so by peak year it is a Baby Boomers name.
Nancy in the US top 10, by year
Rank among girls' names, #1 at the top. Blank years: outside the top 10. Dashed line: the year with the most babies named Nancy (1947).
Top-10 years by generation
| Generation | Years in top 10 | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 12 (1934–1945) | #7 |
| Baby Boomers | 10 (1946–1955) | #6 |
Questions people ask
When was the name Nancy most popular?
By number of babies, in 1947, when 32,445 girls were given the name. By rank, it reached #6 and spent 22 years in the top 10.
What generation is the name Nancy?
Its peak year, 1947, falls in Baby Boomers (1946–1964). Its 22 top-10 years fall in: Silent Generation (12), Baby Boomers (10).
How many people have been named Nancy?
SSA counted 1,004,448 girls named Nancy born from 1880 to 2025. That is births, not people alive today, and it misses many people born before 1937 who never applied for a Social Security card.
In the top 10 at the same time
Source: US Social Security Administration baby-name data, from Social Security card applications for births in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 1880–2025. Many people born before 1937 never applied for a card, so early years undercount. Spellings are counted separately. We hold each year's top 10 in rank order and each name's peak-year and all-time counts, so the chart shows rank rather than births per year. This page gives no meaning or origin for the name and no estimate of how many people named Nancy are alive today.