Beecher
One having skills and abilities in carpentry or woodworking.
Name Census estimates that about 275 living Americans carry the first name Beecher. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Beecher today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Beecher births was 1921 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Beecher. 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
- • The typical person named Beecher is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Beechers were born before 1965.
People living today
275
~ 1 in 1,246,379 Americans
Peak year
1921
36 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,589
Tracked since 1884
Census
Beecher in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 359 people with the first name Beecher, which placed it at #26,116 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
#26,116
National first-name rank
People counted
359
359 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Beecher
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Beecher is White at 86.9%. The next largest groups are Black (7.5%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Beecher 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 Beecher at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.9% · 312
- Black or African American7.5% · 27
- Two or more races2.2% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
Popularity
Beecher: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Beecher from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 251 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Beecher 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 Beecher during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Beechers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Tennessee, Kentucky, Maine recorded the most babies named Beecher, while Virginia, Indiana, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Beecher
The given name Beecher is an English name that originated in the Middle Ages. It is believed to be derived from the Old English word "beocere," which means "bee-keeper" or "beekeeper." This suggests that the name may have initially been an occupational surname given to those who kept bees and produced honey.
In the 12th and 13th centuries, the name was commonly found in various parts of England, particularly in the counties of Warwickshire and Worcestershire. It was often spelled as "Becher," "Bechir," or "Bechyr" during this period, reflecting the variations in spelling that were common before standardization.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Beecher can be found in the Domesday Book, a survey of land and property conducted in England in 1086. The record mentions a landowner named "Bechir" in Warwickshire.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Beecher. One of the most famous was Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and prominent abolitionist. He was a powerful orator and a leading voice in the anti-slavery movement in the United States.
Another notable Beecher was Lyman Beecher (1775-1863), an American Congregationalist minister and the father of Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of the influential anti-slavery novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
In the world of literature, Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), better known as Harriet Beecher Stowe, was a renowned American author and abolitionist. Her novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" played a significant role in raising awareness about the horrors of slavery and is considered a catalyst for the American Civil War.
The name Beecher was also borne by Walter Beecher (1891-1967), an American architect known for his work on the iconic Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, and the Duke University campus in Durham, North Carolina.
Lastly, Beecher Howard Stowe (1934-1995) was an American actor who appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout his career, including roles in "The Green Mile," "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," and "The X-Files."
People
Beecher + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Beecher 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
Beecher: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Beecher?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 275 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Beecher 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 1,246,379 US residents.
Is Beecher a common name?
We classify Beecher as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,019 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Beecher most popular?
The single biggest year for Beecher was 1921, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Beecher is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Beecher in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 359 people with the name Beecher, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,116 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 Beecher 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 Beecher?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Beecher leans strongly male. 354 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 8 female bearers (2.2%). 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 Beecher?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Beecher is White at 86.9%. The next largest groups are Black (7.5%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Beecher most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Beecher in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.9% (312 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 Beecher in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Beecher a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Beecher 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 Beecher still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Beecher 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 Beecher 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 Beecher as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.