Anderson
A masculine name of English origin meaning "son of Andrew".
Name Census estimates that about 28,986 living Americans carry the first name Anderson. It sits at #356 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (95.7% of registrations). The average person named Anderson today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anderson births was 2012 (1,294 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anderson. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Anderson with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Anderson is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,474 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
29K
~ 1 in 11,825 Americans
Peak year
2012
1,294 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#356
Tracked since 1880
Census
Anderson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 26,990 people with the first name Anderson, which placed it at #1,337 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
#1,337
National first-name rank
People counted
27K
26,990 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anderson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anderson is White at 44.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.8%) and Black (13.3%). 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 Anderson 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 Anderson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.3% · 11,970
- Hispanic or Latino31.8% · 8,576
- Black or African American13.3% · 3,598
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.7% · 1,548
- Two or more races3.8% · 1,023
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 275
Gender
Gender distribution for Anderson
Anderson leans heavily male at 95.7% of total registrations, but 1,474 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Anderson as a male name
- Ranked #356 in 2024
- 943 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (1,249 births)
Anderson as a female name
- Ranked #1,711 in 2024
- 118 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (118 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Anderson leans strongly male. 25,823 people counted with this name were male (95.7%), compared with 1,170 female bearers (4.3%).
Popularity
Anderson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anderson from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 12,098 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Anderson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anderson 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 Anderson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Andersons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Anderson, while South Dakota, Maine, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 629 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Anderson
The name Anderson originates from the Old English words "Andr" and "sunu," meaning "son of Andr." It is believed to have been derived from the Greek name "Andreas," which means "manly" or "brave." This name has its roots in the early medieval period, around the 5th to 10th centuries AD.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Anderson dates back to the 12th century in England. It was initially a patronymic surname, indicating the son of a person named Andr or Andrew. Over time, it transitioned into a given name in its own right.
In the 13th century, the name appears in various historical records, such as the Domesday Book and the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire. This suggests that it was already in use among the Anglo-Saxon population of Britain at that time.
One notable historical figure with the name Anderson was Sir Edmund Anderson (1530-1605), an English jurist and Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He played a significant role in the legal system of his time.
Another prominent individual was Andrew Anderson (1746-1820), a Scottish scientist and inventor who made important contributions to the development of the steam engine and the application of steam power in transportation.
In the literary world, Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941) was an American novelist and short story writer known for his works such as "Winesburg, Ohio" and his influence on the modernist movement in literature.
The name also found its way into the realm of music with Anderson Paak (born 1986), an American rapper, singer, and songwriter known for his unique blend of genres and collaborations with artists like Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar.
Lastly, Anderson Silva (born 1975) is a Brazilian former professional mixed martial artist and one of the most successful and influential figures in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
These examples demonstrate the widespread use of the name Anderson across various fields and cultures throughout history, from law and science to literature, music, and sports.
People
Anderson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anderson 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
Anderson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anderson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 28,986 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anderson 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 11,825 US residents.
Is Anderson a common name?
We classify Anderson as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 34,564 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anderson most popular?
The single biggest year for Anderson was 2012, when 1,294 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anderson is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anderson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 26,990 people with the name Anderson, or 8.94 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,337 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 Anderson 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 Anderson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Anderson leans strongly male. 25,823 people counted with this name were male (95.7%), compared with 1,170 female bearers (4.3%). 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 Anderson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anderson is White at 44.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.8%) and Black (13.3%). 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 Anderson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Anderson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.3% (11,970 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 Anderson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anderson a male name?
Yes, 95.7% of people registered as Anderson 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 Anderson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anderson 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 Anderson 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 many Americans are named Anderson?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.