Avant
A French word meaning "before" or "forward".
Name Census estimates that about 630 living Americans carry the first name Avant. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Avant today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Avant births was 2004 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Avant. 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.
People living today
630
~ 1 in 544,055 Americans
Peak year
2004
58 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,033
Tracked since 1971
Census
Avant in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 509 people with the first name Avant, which placed it at #20,333 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
#20,333
National first-name rank
People counted
509
509 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
70.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Avant
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Avant is Black at 70.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Two or More Races (9.4%). 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 Avant 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 Avant at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American70.3% · 358
- Hispanic or Latino11.8% · 60
- Two or more races9.4% · 48
- White4.5% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 5
Popularity
Avant: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Avant from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 366 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Avant 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 Avant during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Avants live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Avant, while Georgia, Florida, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Avant
The name Avant has its origins in the French language, tracing back to the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance period. It is derived from the French word "avant," meaning "before" or "in front of." The name carries a sense of being ahead of its time or forward-thinking.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Avant can be found in the writings of the French poet and scholar François Villon, who lived from 1431 to 1463. He mentioned an individual named Avant in one of his ballads, though the context is unclear.
During the 16th century, the name Avant gained some prominence among French nobility and intellectuals who were part of the avant-garde movement. This movement embraced new ideas and artistic expressions, aligning with the name's connotation of being ahead of its time.
In the 17th century, a notable figure named Avant de Saint-Julien (1616-1687) made his mark as a French military engineer and architect. He was renowned for his innovative fortification designs and contributed significantly to the development of military architecture during that era.
Another historical figure bearing the name Avant was the French philosopher and writer Avant de Condillac (1715-1780). He was a prominent figure of the Enlightenment period and is best known for his works on epistemology and the theory of knowledge.
In the realm of literature, Avant Dubois (1779-1848) was a French poet and dramatist who gained recognition for his romantic plays and poems. His works were widely celebrated during the Romantic movement in France.
Moving into the 20th century, Avant Garde (1901-1965) was a French artist and sculptor known for his abstract and avant-garde works. He was associated with the Cubist and Surrealist movements and was a influential figure in the Parisian art scene of his time.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Avant, highlighting its French origins and association with forward-thinking and innovative ideas across various fields.
People
Avant + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Avant 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
Avant: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Avant?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 630 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Avant 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 544,055 US residents.
Is Avant a common name?
We classify Avant as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 637 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Avant most popular?
The single biggest year for Avant was 2004, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Avant is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Avant in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 509 people with the name Avant, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,333 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 Avant 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 Avant?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Avant leans strongly male. 481 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 20 female bearers (4.0%). 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 Avant?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Avant is Black at 70.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Two or More Races (9.4%). 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 Avant most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Avant in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.3% (358 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 Avant in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Avant a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Avant 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 Avant still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Avant 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 Avant 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 people share the name Avant?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.