Head to head · Girls' names
Camille vs Delaney
#240 vs #242 in 2025
Camille is a whisker ahead (#240 vs #242 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Camille is holding its place on the charts, Delaney is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Delaney has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Camille leads 4 measures of 6; Delaney leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Camille #636, Delaney — — Camille higher
- 1890s: Camille #532, Delaney — — Camille higher
- 1900s: Camille #507, Delaney — — Camille higher
- 1910s: Camille #498, Delaney — — Camille higher
- 1920s: Camille #562, Delaney — — Camille higher
- 1930s: Camille #463, Delaney #4250 — Camille higher
- 1940s: Camille #341, Delaney — — Camille higher
- 1950s: Camille #396, Delaney #5346 — Camille higher
- 1960s: Camille #421, Delaney #6225 — Camille higher
- 1970s: Camille #386, Delaney #3815 — Camille higher
- 1980s: Camille #345, Delaney #3250 — Camille higher
- 1990s: Camille #274, Delaney #496 — Camille higher
- 2000s: Camille #279, Delaney #197 — Delaney higher
- 2010s: Camille #250, Delaney #251 — Camille higher
- 2020s: Camille #255, Delaney #253 — Delaney higher
Camille stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Delaney took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Camille | Delaney |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #636 | — |
| 1890s | #532 | — |
| 1900s | #507 | — |
| 1910s | #498 | — |
| 1920s | #562 | — |
| 1930s | #463 | #4250 |
| 1940s | #341 | — |
| 1950s | #396 | #5346 |
| 1960s | #421 | #6225 |
| 1970s | #386 | #3815 |
| 1980s | #345 | #3250 |
| 1990s | #274 | #496 |
| 2000s | #279 | #197 |
| 2010s | #250 | #251 |
| 2020s | #255 | #253 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Camille
- France#75
Delaney
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Camille
From the Roman name Camillus/Camilla — a young attendant at a religious rite
In classical Latin, camillus and camilla named a boy or girl who assisted a priest at sacrifices, and that is the reading usually given. But Roman writers themselves treated the word as an inheritance from Etruscan, a language only partly deciphered, so the meaning behind the meaning is genuinely lost. Both facts are true at once: a documented Latin sense sitting on top of an older, unreadable root.
Camillus → Camilla → Camille
How it traveled
The name begins as Camillus, a family name among the Romans, and its feminine Camilla was made famous by Virgil in the Aeneid, where Camilla is a swift-footed warrior of the Volsci. Latin Camilla passed into Italian and Spanish as Camilla and Camila, and into French, where it flattened to Camille and — unusually — settled as a name for boys and girls alike.
Delaney
Either "descendant of Dubhshláine" (Irish: dubh, dark or black, plus Sláine) or "of the alder grove" (Norman French)
Two serious lines meet at this spelling. The Gaelic surname Ó Dubhshláine breaks into dubh, "black" or "dark", and Sláine — read either as a personal name or as the River Slaney. Separately, Anglo-Norman families in Ireland bore de l'Aunaie, "from the alder grove", which anglicized to Delaney and Delany too. Both are well attested; genealogists do not agree on which family carried which.
Dubhshláine → Ó Dubhshláine → Delany → Delaney
How it traveled
The name belongs first to Ireland, where Ó Dubhshláine was a sept of the midlands, concentrated around the borders of Laois and Kilkenny. Norman settlers who arrived after the twelfth century brought the separate name de l'Aunaie, and over centuries of anglicization the two collapsed into the same handful of spellings — Delany, Delaney, Delahunty nearby.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Camille
kuh-MEEL
Standard in American English, with the stress on the second syllable. French speakers say kah-MEE, with the final consonants silent; a third version, kuh-MEE-uh, follows the Italian Camilla and turns up occasionally. Any of the three is defensible, so it helps to pick one early.
- Cami — The most common English short form; also given on its own to some children, and shared with Camila and Cameron.
- Cam — Informal and unisex, overlapping with Cameron and Campbell.
- Cammie — Older-style diminutive, mostly used within families.
- Millie — Takes the second half rather than the first; independently a full given name in its own right.
- Also Mimi.
Delaney
duh-LAY-nee
Stress on the middle syllable. Spelling and sound line up cleanly in English, so it rarely needs repeating — though the first syllable is often flattened to DEL-a-nee in casual speech.
- Laney — The most common short form, and a given name in its own right on US records.
- Del — Informal and clipped; used across ages and genders.
- Dee — Informal, initial-based, easy for young children to say.
- Lane — Informal; also stands alone as a given name for boys and girls.
- Also Della.
Who has carried each name
Camille
Camille Claudel (b. 1864) — Sculptor whose genius rivaled Rodin's
Delaney
No documented entry for Delaney yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Camille if you want…
- a name holding steadyCamille is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesCamille is 2 syllables to Delaney's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooCamille is on the national lists of France
- a long American recordCamille was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Delaney if you want…
- a name on the way upup 71 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itDelaney runs 3 syllables, Camille 2
- a newer arrivalDelaney entered the US charts in 1939
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Camille
Strengths
- A spelling most English speakers can read and write on the first attempt, unlike many French-derived names.
- Continuously on American records since the earliest data, with no boom-and-bust cycle behind it.
- Works across languages: Camille in France, Camilla in Italy, Camila in Spanish-speaking countries, Kamila in Poland.
To consider
- Three pronunciations circulate: kuh-MEEL, French kah-MEE, and occasionally kuh-MEE-uh. Expect to correct people, especially if you prefer the French one.
- Camila and Camilla are close cousins and currently much more widely given, so Camille gets heard or written as one of those fairly often.
- In France the name is given to boys as well as girls. That rarely matters in American life, but it can surprise francophone relatives or come up on forms abroad.
Delaney
Strengths
- Spelling and pronunciation match, so most English speakers get it right on the first reading and the first hearing.
- Comes with ready-made short forms — Laney, Del, Dee — none of which need inventing.
- A documented surname for many centuries in Ireland, which gives it a long record behind a modern-sounding first name.
To consider
- It still reads as a surname to many people, so expect it to be occasionally taken as a last name on forms, rosters and introductions.
- Delaney and Delany both have real history, which means the second E gets dropped and re-added by other people for life.
- In the United States it is now given almost entirely to girls, though the underlying surname carries no gender at all — worth knowing if you were considering it for a son.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Camille and Delaney in full.
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Decide together
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Camille and Delaney — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Camille or Delaney — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Camille or Delaney?
- Camille, in 2025: Camille ranked #240 with 1,299 babies; Delaney ranked #242 with 1,283 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Camille or Delaney?
- Delaney. Over the last five years Camille moved up 25 places; Delaney moved up 71 places.
- Which is the older name, Camille or Delaney?
- Camille was already in use when US records began in 1880; Delaney entered the US charts in 1939. On the American record, Camille is the older name.
- How many people are named Camille and Delaney?
- About 66,500 people named Camille are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 45,000 people named Delaney are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Camilles or Delaneys in the classroom?
- Camille will almost certainly be the only one in school. Delaney will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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