The U.S. name census, made human

How common
is your name?

One search. A surprisingly deep answer—real Census counts, 145 years of popularity, demographics, rarity, and an honest full-name estimate.

A nation in names

Popular then. Popular now.

“Most people alive with this name” and “most babies named this year” are two very different rankings. Explore both.

Numbers with receipts

What your result actually means.

Name statistics get misleading fast. We separate measured counts from estimates and show the limits right beside the answer.

Read full methodology ↗ Census source ↗ SSA source ↗

Living-name frequency from the 2020 Census

Our headline first- and last-name counts come from people counted in the Census—not a sum of historical baby names.

Popularity history from SSA, 1880–2025

Annual Social Security records reveal peak years, generational character, current momentum, and sex distribution at birth.

Full-name frequency is clearly marked as an estimate

We combine first- and last-name rates using a standard independence model. It is useful context, not a people-search result.

Understanding name statistics

Common, popular, and trending are not the same thing.

A name can be extremely common among Americans alive today and almost absent from current birth records. It can also be one of this year’s most fashionable baby names while remaining relatively uncommon across the full population. Those two measurements answer different questions.

How common is a name?

Commonness is a population snapshot. Our first-name and surname counts come from the 2020 Census tables, which describe how many residents reported each published name. This is the useful number when you want to know how many people in the country share a name today.

How popular is a name?

Popularity usually means how often parents are choosing a first name now. The SSA birth series captures that movement year by year. A high Census count tells you a name has many bearers; a high 2025 birth rank tells you the name is fashionable with new parents. Michael illustrates the difference: it ranks first in the Census first-name table, while newer generations have shifted toward names such as Liam, Noah, and Oliver.

What does “1 in X” mean?

The ratio turns a national count into something easier to picture. If a name appears once per 500 residents, a group of 500 randomly selected Americans would contain roughly one bearer on average. It is a national probability, not a promise about a classroom, town, age group, or cultural community.

More than curiosity

What people learn from a name search.

The same records become useful in different ways depending on the decision you are making.

01

Choosing a baby name

Compare today’s birth rank with the total living population. This helps separate a name that is genuinely rare from one that only feels fresh because it is returning after several quiet decades.

Baby-name guide →
02

Family-history research

Surname frequency helps set expectations before searching archives. A rare surname may narrow a record search; a very common surname usually requires more geography, dates, and family context.

Understand surname data →
03

Writing believable characters

A character’s birth decade matters. Looking at the full SSA timeline can reveal whether a name fits a period, was ahead of its time, or would have sounded unusual when the character was born.

Explore naming cycles →
04

Understanding your own name

National rank, nearby spellings, demographic aggregates, and generational patterns add context without turning a name into a prediction about the person who carries it.

Read the data limits →

From the guides

Go beyond the headline number.

View all guides →
Name data

How full-name estimates work—and where they can be wrong

A plain-English explanation of independence, cultural clustering, thresholds, and uncertainty.

8 minute read Baby names

Choosing a distinctive name without chasing novelty

How to balance current rank, historical depth, spelling, and long-term usability.

7 minute read Name trends

Why names rise, disappear, and return generations later

Reading fashion cycles, cultural moments, and the long tail of naming history.

6 minute read

Good questions

Before you take the number personally.

How many people have my name in the United States?

Enter a first name, last name, or both. We use measured 2020 Census frequency tables for each part of the name. A full-name result is an estimate based on the frequency of each name, because no public database counts every full name.

Is this an exact count?

First- and last-name counts are Census estimates rounded and privacy-protected by the Census Bureau. Full-name counts are statistical estimates that assume first and last names occur independently, which is not always true across cultures and communities.

Why does a rare name show fewer than 100?

The Census publishes names occurring 100 or more times. A missing name may exist—it simply falls below the public reporting threshold. SSA also omits a name-sex-year combination when fewer than five births were recorded.

What is the difference between Census and SSA data?

The 2020 Census counts people living in the U.S. and is our source for frequency and demographics. SSA data counts babies receiving Social Security numbers and is our source for yearly popularity trends from 1880 through 2025.

Do you store the names I search?

No. The entire lookup happens in your browser against static, aggregated government datasets. There is no name-search API call and no account is required.