Head to head · Girls' names
Delaney vs Diana
#242 vs #244 in 2025
Delaney is a whisker ahead (#242 vs #244 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Delaney is back after a long quiet spell, Diana is holding its place on the charts.
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
The tape is even: Delaney and Diana each lead 3 measures of 6.
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: Delaney —, Diana #656 — Diana higher
- 1890s: Delaney —, Diana #633 — Diana higher
- 1900s: Delaney —, Diana #597 — Diana higher
- 1910s: Delaney —, Diana #507 — Diana higher
- 1920s: Delaney —, Diana #385 — Diana higher
- 1930s: Delaney #4250, Diana #206 — Diana higher
- 1940s: Delaney —, Diana #64 — Diana higher
- 1950s: Delaney #5346, Diana #51 — Diana higher
- 1960s: Delaney #6225, Diana #64 — Diana higher
- 1970s: Delaney #3815, Diana #94 — Diana higher
- 1980s: Delaney #3250, Diana #80 — Diana higher
- 1990s: Delaney #496, Diana #99 — Diana higher
- 2000s: Delaney #197, Diana #115 — Diana higher
- 2010s: Delaney #251, Diana #241 — Diana higher
- 2020s: Delaney #253, Diana #236 — Diana higher
Diana stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Delaney | Diana |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #656 |
| 1890s | — | #633 |
| 1900s | — | #597 |
| 1910s | — | #507 |
| 1920s | — | #385 |
| 1930s | #4250 | #206 |
| 1940s | — | #64 |
| 1950s | #5346 | #51 |
| 1960s | #6225 | #64 |
| 1970s | #3815 | #94 |
| 1980s | #3250 | #80 |
| 1990s | #496 | #99 |
| 2000s | #197 | #115 |
| 2010s | #251 | #241 |
| 2020s | #253 | #236 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Diana
Bright, of the daylight
Built on the same ancient root as the Latin word for a day and the first part of the name Jupiter, with an underlying sense of brightness or the open sky. The association with the moon and with hunting came later and from Greek influence; the oldest layer of the name is about daylight rather than moonlight, which is the opposite of what most people are told.
Diana
How it traveled
The Aventine temple was outside the old religious boundary of the city, which mattered: it was where the people who were not fully inside Roman life went. Her festival fell in the middle of August and was kept as a day off for slaves, who could not be made to work and who washed their hair for it; the sanctuary offered refuge to anyone who reached it.
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
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.
Diana
die-AN-uh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle in English. Spanish and Italian say dee-AH-nah, with a long first vowel, and French drops the last syllable altogether. All three are the same name and all three are current in the United States.
- Di — The first syllable alone; short, and the form most Dianas are actually called.
- Annie — Taken from the middle and softened, which disguises the name completely.
- Dee — The first sound only; unisex, and shared with a great many other names.
- Dina — The name compressed to two syllables, which makes a separate name in several languages.
One short form, two names
- Delaney and Diana both shorten to Dee.
Short forms as recorded on each name’s own page. This is here so it is a decision rather than a discovery.
Who has carried each name
Delaney
No documented entry for Delaney yet.
Diana
Diana, Princess of Wales (b. 1961) — The "People's Princess"
Diana Ross (b. 1944) — Motown legend who fronted The Supremes
Diana Taurasi (b. 1982) — The WNBA's all-time scoring leader
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 Delaney if you want…
- a name on the way upup 71 places on the charts in five years
- a newer arrivalDelaney entered the US charts in 1939
Choose Diana if you want…
- a name holding steadyDiana is holding its place on the charts
- a long American recordDiana was already in use when US records began in 1880
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
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.
Diana
Strengths
- It is spelled identically in Spanish, Italian, Russian and Romanian, and needs no adjustment anywhere.
- The name has been in continuous English use for centuries without ever sounding old-fashioned.
- Several short forms in different registers, from the brisk Di to the entirely disguised Annie.
To consider
- The name is on record for boys in small numbers, so it is not quite the absolute signal people assume.
- One twentieth-century bearer is famous enough that the name carries her story for a whole generation.
- Two live pronunciations exist in America, one English and one Spanish, and families with both will have to choose.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Delaney
30%chance Delaney feels dated by 2040
Delaney is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
Diana
12%chance Diana feels dated by 2040
Diana has held the top-100 across 6 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Delaney and Diana in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Delaney and Diana?
Put both to the vote.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Vintage names making a comeback
- Seven-letter names, ranked by real use
- Irish names beyond St. Patrick's Day
- Names ending in -y
- all guides
Where Delaney and Diana each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Delaney or Diana — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Delaney or Diana?
- Delaney, in 2025: Delaney ranked #242 with 1,283 babies; Diana ranked #244 with 1,277 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Delaney or Diana?
- Delaney. Over the last five years Delaney moved up 71 places; Diana moved up 1 place.
- Which is the older name, Delaney or Diana?
- Delaney entered the US charts in 1939; Diana was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Diana is the older name.
- How many people are named Delaney and Diana?
- About 45,000 people named Delaney are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 314,000 people named Diana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Do Delaney and Diana share a nickname?
- Yes — both shorten to Dee, so in a house with both names the short form would not say which child is meant.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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