Beck
A gender-neutral name of uncertain origin, possibly meaning "brook" or "stream".
Name Census estimates that about 3,800 living Americans carry the first name Beck. It is a predominantly male name (97.0% of registrations). The average person named Beck today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Beck births was 2023 (239 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Beck. 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 Beck with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Beck is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 114 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Beck is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.8K
~ 1 in 90,199 Americans
Peak year
2023
239 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,005
Tracked since 1957
Census
Beck in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,225 people with the first name Beck, which placed it at #5,355 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
#5,355
National first-name rank
People counted
3.2K
3,225 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Beck
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Beck is White at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.9%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Beck 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 Beck at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.4% · 2,722
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 223
- Two or more races4.9% · 158
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 69
- Black or African American1.4% · 44
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Beck
Beck leans heavily male at 97.0% of total registrations, but 114 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Beck as a male name
- Ranked #1,005 in 2024
- 223 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (223 births)
Beck as a female name
- Ranked #8,007 in 2024
- 13 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (28 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Beck leans strongly male. 2,956 people counted with this name were male (91.8%), compared with 263 female bearers (8.2%).
Popularity
Beck: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Beck from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,374 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
Beck 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 Beck during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Becks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. Texas, California, Utah recorded the most babies named Beck, while New Jersey, Nebraska, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 71 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Beck
The name Beck has its origins in the Germanic language family, specifically from the Old English word "bæcc" or the Middle Low German word "bek," both meaning "stream" or "brook." It is believed to have emerged as a name during the medieval period in regions where these languages were spoken, such as parts of England and Germany.
The name Beck was initially used as a topographic surname, referring to a person who lived near a stream or brook. Over time, it transitioned into being used as a given name, particularly in English-speaking countries and regions influenced by Germanic culture.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Beck can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which documented landowners in medieval England. The entry "Beccus" is listed, which is believed to be an early variation of the name Beck.
In the 12th century, a German monk named Bekkos (also spelled Beccos or Beccus) was a prominent figure in the Orthodox Church and played a significant role in the Council of Lyons in 1274, which aimed to reconcile the Eastern and Western churches.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure named Beck von Leopoldsdorf (c. 1470-1540) was a German mathematician and astronomer who contributed to the development of trigonometry and the study of planetary motions.
In the 16th century, a Dutch painter named Jacobus Beck (c. 1535-1597) gained recognition for his landscape paintings and depictions of rural life in the Netherlands.
In the 19th century, Johann Philipp Beck (1766-1849) was a German musician and composer who wrote operas, symphonies, and chamber music, contributing to the development of Romantic-era classical music.
Another prominent figure with the name Beck was the German philosopher and author Ludwig Beck (1880-1944), who was a member of the German Resistance movement against the Nazi regime during World War II.
These examples illustrate the long-standing presence of the name Beck across various regions, professions, and historical periods, reflecting its Germanic roots and the diverse individuals who have borne this name throughout history.
People
Beck + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Beck 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
Beck: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Beck?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,800 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Beck 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 90,199 US residents.
Is Beck a common name?
We classify Beck as "Rare". It ranks above 95.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,838 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Beck most popular?
The single biggest year for Beck was 2023, when 239 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Beck is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Beck in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,225 people with the name Beck, or 1.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,355 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 Beck 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 Beck?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Beck leans strongly male. 2,956 people counted with this name were male (91.8%), compared with 263 female bearers (8.2%). 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 Beck?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Beck is White at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.9%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Beck most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Beck in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.4% (2,722 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 Beck in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Beck a male name?
Yes, 97.0% of people registered as Beck 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 Beck still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Beck 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 Beck 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 Beck?
Want to know how many people have the name Beck? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.