Chaney
Chaney was given to 16 girls in 2025, #6,899 among girls’ names; 1,783 Americans have been recorded with it since 1886 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,560 Americans named Chaney and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (88% of everyone recorded); the median is 28 years old and half are between 21 and 36.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Chaney by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Chaney mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Chaney is “a female given name transferred from the surname.”
Variant of Chesney.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Chaney?
#6,899 among girls’ names, 2025
Chaney fell from #6,777 in 2015 to #6,899 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 10.1 to 10.0 per million.
77 babies in 2003, the peak
Chaney peaked in 2003, when 77 babies were given it (57 girls, #2,738 among girls’ names). The 16 births of 2025 are 21% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 16 | #6,899 | under 5 | |
| 2024 | 15 | #7,315 | under 5 | |
| 2023 | 9 | #10,484 | under 5 | |
| 2022 | 12 | #8,635 | 5 | #12,684 |
| 2021 | 15 | #7,330 | under 5 | |
| 2020 | 15 | #7,292 | under 5 | |
| 2019 | 16 | #7,090 | under 5 | |
| 2018 | 13 | #8,241 | under 5 | |
| 2017 | 22 | #5,696 | under 5 | |
| 2016 | 14 | #8,074 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (89)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 18 | #6,777 | under 5 | |
| 2014 | 15 | #7,742 | under 5 | |
| 2013 | 16 | #7,465 | under 5 | |
| 2012 | 16 | #7,522 | under 5 | |
| 2011 | 18 | #6,913 | 6 | #11,056 |
| 2010 | 16 | #7,602 | 5 | #12,555 |
| 2009 | 25 | #5,572 | 5 | #12,802 |
| 2008 | 17 | #7,481 | under 5 | |
| 2007 | 22 | #6,144 | 6 | #11,144 |
| 2006 | 28 | #4,985 | 11 | #6,983 |
| 2005 | 36 | #3,962 | 10 | #7,196 |
| 2004 | 38 | #3,757 | 8 | #8,258 |
| 2003 | 57 | #2,738 | 20 | #4,129 |
| 2002 | 33 | #3,901 | 12 | #5,777 |
| 2001 | 54 | #2,741 | 19 | #4,144 |
| 2000 | 51 | #2,819 | 11 | #5,969 |
| 1999 | 31 | #3,816 | 12 | #5,354 |
| 1998 | 42 | #3,023 | 23 | #3,304 |
| 1997 | 28 | #3,911 | 15 | #4,271 |
| 1996 | 39 | #3,035 | 8 | #6,586 |
| 1995 | 28 | #3,790 | 12 | #4,831 |
| 1994 | 28 | #3,799 | 16 | #3,930 |
| 1993 | 33 | #3,355 | 10 | #5,404 |
| 1992 | 31 | #3,510 | 18 | #3,471 |
| 1991 | 37 | #3,035 | 18 | #3,340 |
| 1990 | 27 | #3,822 | 11 | #4,707 |
| 1989 | 19 | #4,698 | 8 | #5,708 |
| 1988 | 16 | #5,093 | 11 | #4,196 |
| 1987 | 16 | #4,885 | 6 | #6,208 |
| 1986 | 18 | #4,369 | 7 | #5,419 |
| 1985 | 11 | #6,085 | 9 | #4,376 |
| 1984 | 11 | #5,954 | 6 | #5,678 |
| 1983 | 10 | #6,289 | under 5 | |
| 1982 | 13 | #5,251 | 6 | #5,740 |
| 1981 | 17 | #4,369 | 5 | #6,425 |
| 1980 | 20 | #3,870 | 5 | #6,396 |
| 1979 | 13 | #5,135 | 11 | #3,598 |
| 1978 | 10 | #6,018 | 7 | #4,624 |
| 1977 | 12 | #5,254 | 12 | #3,223 |
| 1976 | 5 | #9,511 | 6 | #5,017 |
| 1975 | 9 | #6,035 | 6 | #4,887 |
| 1974 | 7 | #7,000 | 11 | #3,162 |
| 1973 | 8 | #6,161 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 6 | #7,409 | 9 | #3,386 |
| 1971 | 9 | #5,602 | under 5 | |
| 1970 | 8 | #5,886 | under 5 | |
| 1969 | 6 | #6,735 | under 5 | |
| 1967 | 5 | #6,929 | under 5 | |
| 1966 | 5 | #6,707 | 6 | #3,583 |
| 1958 | 6 | #5,496 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 5 | #6,197 | under 5 | |
| 1951 | under 5 | 5 | #3,796 | |
| 1950 | 7 | #4,376 | under 5 | |
| 1946 | 7 | #4,049 | under 5 | |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,797 | under 5 | |
| 1930 | 7 | #3,712 | under 5 | |
| 1924 | 6 | #4,547 | 5 | #4,454 |
| 1921 | 9 | #3,454 | under 5 | |
| 1920 | 7 | #4,027 | under 5 | |
| 1918 | 5 | #4,938 | under 5 | |
| 1916 | 7 | #3,604 | under 5 | |
| 1915 | 9 | #2,936 | 9 | #2,663 |
| 1914 | 6 | #3,252 | under 5 | |
| 1913 | 6 | #2,881 | under 5 | |
| 1912 | 7 | #2,415 | under 5 | |
| 1911 | 5 | #2,529 | under 5 | |
| 1907 | 8 | #1,523 | under 5 | |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,767 | under 5 | |
| 1905 | 9 | #1,320 | under 5 | |
| 1904 | 6 | #1,689 | under 5 | |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,629 | under 5 | |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,832 | under 5 | |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,761 | under 5 | |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,624 | under 5 | |
| 1895 | 6 | #1,451 | under 5 | |
| 1890 | 5 | #1,363 | under 5 | |
| 1888 | 8 | #970 | under 5 | |
| 1887 | 6 | #1,054 | under 5 | |
| 1886 | 5 | #1,132 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Chaney a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,783 Americans recorded as Chaney, 77% are girls and 23% boys. In 2025 it went to 16 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Chaney: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Chaney, and how old are they?
1,560 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 88% of the 1,783 Americans ever recorded as Chaney. The median Chaney alive today is 28 years old; half are between 21 and 36.
The 2020 Census counted 1,531 people named Chaney (1,098 women and girls, 433 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,495 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 4 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 21 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 181 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 489 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 666 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 200 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 20,689 babies since 1880, Chaney is the second most given (8.6% of them). In 2025 it was given to 16 of their 540 babies (3.0%), the third most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
More about Chaney and names like it
- Compare Chaney and ChanaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sChaney peaked in 2003.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Chaney since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Chaney: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2003The year the most babies were named Chaney.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Chaney alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with CMost given first.