Girls' name · peaked in 1991
Chanel name popularity since 1925
19,163 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Chanel. Half of them were born in 1996 or earlier, so the typical Chanel is about 30 years old in 2026. Chanel peaked in 1991 as the #380 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 19,163
- Named Chanel, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,311 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 99.7% girls
- 19,097 girls · 66 boys
- Most popular in
- Florida
- 2.31× its national share
Peak year is the year Chanel made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Chanel births per year, 1925–2025
1991 was the biggest year for Chanel both by count and as a share of all babies.
- Fastest rise: Between 1974 and 1979, Chanel became 2× more common, from 1 in 12,300 baby girls to 1 in 6,080.
- Steepest fall: Between 2020 and 2025, its share of baby girls fell by 56%, from 1 in 4,130 to 1 in 9,450.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Chanel's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Chanel.
Decade by decade
Babies named Chanel in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 0 | 23 | – |
| 1930s | 0 | 10 | Under 5 |
| 1940s | 0 | 0 | Under 5 |
| 1950s | 39 | 0 | #4,805 |
| 1960s | 385 | 0 | #1,856 |
| 1970s | 1,443 | 5 | #923 |
| 1980s | 4,239 | 17 | #465 |
| 1990s | 4,754 | 11 | #618 |
| 2000s | 2,828 | 0 | #915 |
| 2010s | 3,828 | 0 | #685 |
| 2020–25 | 1,581 | 0 | #1,311 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000. "Under 5" means fewer than 5 girls got the name.
Generation fingerprint
40.5% of babies named Chanel from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Millennial years (1981–1996). The full split by generation:
Where Chanel is most popular
The index compares Chanel's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Chanel.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | 2.31× | 1,364 |
| Maryland | 1.97× | 493 |
| California | 1.86× | 3,229 |
| Arizona | 1.59× | 338 |
| New York | 1.57× | 1,954 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Chanel and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Chanel (this page) | 19,097 | 1991 |
| Chanell | 2,897 | 1988 |
| Channel | 1,524 | 1991 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Chanel's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Chanel.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Chanel (1991).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data