Andersen
Of Scandinavian origin, meaning "son of Anders" or "son of Andrew".
Name Census estimates that about 1,219 living Americans carry the first name Andersen. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 74.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Andersen today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Andersen births was 2016 (70 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Andersen. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Andersen is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 281,177 Americans
Peak year
2016
70 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,424
Tracked since 1988
Census
Andersen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,059 people with the first name Andersen, which placed it at #11,928 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#11,928
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,059 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Andersen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Andersen is White at 69.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Andersen described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Andersen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.9% · 740
- Hispanic or Latino8.1% · 86
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.0% · 85
- Two or more races7.1% · 75
- Black or African American6.9% · 73
Gender
Gender distribution for Andersen
Andersen is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,232 total registrations, 921 (74.8%) were male and 311 (25.2%) were female.
Andersen as a male name
- Ranked #4,424 in 2024
- 23 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (50 births)
Andersen as a female name
- Ranked #5,790 in 2024
- 21 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (21 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Andersen on both sides of the split. Of the 1,056 people counted with this name, 815 were male (77.2%) and 241 were female (22.8%).
Popularity
Andersen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Andersen from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 545 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Andersen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Andersen by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Andersen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Andersens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Andersen, while Tennessee, Ohio, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Andersen
The given name Andersen is of Scandinavian origin, specifically from Denmark and Norway. It is a patronymic name, derived from the name Anders, which itself is a Scandinavian form of the Greek name Andreas, meaning "manly" or "masculine".
The name Andersen traces its roots back to the Viking Age, when patronymic surnames were common in Scandinavia. It is believed to have been used as early as the 9th century AD, when the Vikings were actively exploring and settling in various parts of Europe.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Andersen can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of stories and historical accounts from the 13th and 14th centuries. These sagas often featured characters with patronymic surnames, including Andersen.
In the 16th century, the name Andersen gained prominence with the birth of Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), the famous Danish author and poet known for his beloved fairy tales such as "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Little Mermaid". His works have been translated into numerous languages and have had a lasting impact on children's literature worldwide.
Another notable figure with the name Andersen was Viggo Andersen (1851-1935), a Danish mathematician and astronomer. He made significant contributions to the field of celestial mechanics and was recognized for his work on the theory of the motion of the Moon.
In the realm of sports, Arne Andersen (1923-2010) was a Norwegian speed skater who won a gold medal in the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo. He was also a successful cyclist and cross-country skier, showcasing his versatility as an athlete.
Moving to the world of music, Arvo Pärt (born 1935), an Estonian composer, was born with the surname Andersen before changing it later in life. His minimalist compositions, influenced by early sacred music, have earned him international acclaim and numerous awards.
Finally, Birgit Nilsson (1918-2005), a celebrated Swedish soprano, was born Birgit Andersen. She was renowned for her powerful voice and acclaimed performances in operas by Wagner and Strauss, earning her the title "Nilsson, the Stupendous" from the New Yorker magazine.
People
Andersen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Andersen as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Andersen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Andersen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,219 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Andersen going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 281,177 US residents.
Is Andersen a common name?
We classify Andersen as "Rare". It ranks above 91.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,232 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Andersen most popular?
The single biggest year for Andersen was 2016, when 70 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Andersen is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Andersen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,059 people with the name Andersen, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,928 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Andersen in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Andersen?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Andersen on both sides of the split. Of the 1,056 people counted with this name, 815 were male (77.2%) and 241 were female (22.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Andersen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Andersen is White at 69.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Andersen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Andersen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.9% (740 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Andersen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Andersen a male name?
Yes, 74.8% of people registered as Andersen in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Andersen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Andersen in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Andersen can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Andersen?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.