Banks
A masculine name of English origin meaning "dweller by the banks".
Name Census estimates that about 5,358 living Americans carry the first name Banks. It sits at #366 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (92.8% of registrations). The average person named Banks today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Banks births was 2023 (1,020 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Banks. 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 Banks with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Banks is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 7 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
5.4K
~ 1 in 63,971 Americans
Peak year
2023
1,020 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#366
Tracked since 1883
Census
Banks in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,668 people with the first name Banks, which placed it at #8,650 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
#8,650
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,668 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Banks
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Banks is White at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Black (7.0%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Banks 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 Banks at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.1% · 1,419
- Black or African American7.0% · 117
- Two or more races3.9% · 65
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Banks
Banks leans heavily male at 92.8% of total registrations, but 418 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Banks as a male name
- Ranked #366 in 2024
- 899 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (941 births)
Banks as a female name
- Ranked #2,052 in 2024
- 94 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (94 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Banks leans strongly male. 1,570 people counted with this name were male (94.4%), compared with 93 female bearers (5.6%).
Popularity
Banks: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Banks from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 3,921 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Banks 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 Banks during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Banks' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. North Carolina, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Banks, while Connecticut, Massachusetts, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 105 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Banks
The name Banks is an English given name derived from the Old English word "banc," which referred to a ridge, slope, or embankment. It has its origins in the Anglo-Saxon period and was initially used as a descriptive name for someone who lived near a hillside or riverbank.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Banks can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholdings and resources in England compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The name appears as a surname in this document, indicating its usage as a descriptive identifier for people living near such geographical features.
During the Middle Ages, the name Banks gained popularity as a given name, particularly among families residing in rural areas or near bodies of water. It was often bestowed upon children as a reflection of their family's connection to the land or as a nod to their place of origin.
In literature, the name Banks appears in several notable works, including the 14th-century poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," where it is mentioned as the surname of one of the characters. This suggests its widespread usage as a surname during the medieval period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the given name Banks. One prominent example is Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), an English naturalist and botanist who accompanied Captain James Cook on his first voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Banks made significant contributions to the field of botany and played a crucial role in the exploration and documentation of new plant species.
Another famous bearer of the name is Banks Woodfork McFadden (1836-1924), a Confederate officer during the American Civil War who later became a prominent lawyer and politician in Tennessee. He served as the Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives and was actively involved in the state's political affairs.
In the realm of music, Banks Bayes (1923-2012) was an American jazz drummer and composer known for his innovative rhythmic styles and collaborations with prominent artists such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
Additionally, Banks Jenkinson (1924-2016) was a British actor and writer best known for his roles in the Carry On film series and his contributions to BBC radio comedies.
Finally, Banks White (1936-1999) was an American professional basketball player who spent several seasons in the NBA, playing for teams like the Detroit Pistons and the Philadelphia 76ers.
People
Banks + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Banks as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Banks: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Banks?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,358 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Banks 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 63,971 US residents.
Is Banks a common name?
We classify Banks as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,774 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Banks most popular?
The single biggest year for Banks was 2023, when 1,020 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Banks is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Banks in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,668 people with the name Banks, or 0.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,650 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 Banks 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 Banks?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Banks leans strongly male. 1,570 people counted with this name were male (94.4%), compared with 93 female bearers (5.6%). 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 Banks?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Banks is White at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Black (7.0%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Banks most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Banks in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.1% (1,419 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 Banks in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Banks a male name?
Yes, 92.8% of people registered as Banks 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 Banks still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Banks 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 Banks 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 have the name Banks?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Banks, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.