Beyonce
A feminine name of French origin meaning "brilliant" or "shining one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,939 living Americans carry the first name Beyonce. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Beyonce today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Beyonce births was 2001 (353 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Beyonce. 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 Beyonce with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 176,769 Americans
Peak year
2001
353 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2022 SSA rank
#13,861
Tracked since 1998
Census
Beyonce in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,668 people with the first name Beyonce, 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
Hispanic or Latino
48.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Beyonce
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Beyonce is Hispanic at 48.2%. The next largest groups are Black (40.7%) and White (4.0%). 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 Beyonce 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 Beyonce at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino48.2% · 804
- Black or African American40.7% · 679
- White4.0% · 66
- Two or more races3.8% · 64
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 34
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 21
Popularity
Beyonce: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Beyonce from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,666 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
Beyonce 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 Beyonce during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Beyonces live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Beyonce, while Arkansas, Utah, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 50 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Beyonce
The name Beyonce is a relatively modern name, originating from the late 20th century. It is believed to have been derived from the French word "beyons," meaning "little curve" or "little curvaceous one." This name was likely coined as a unique variation of the more common French name "Beyonce."
Despite its recent origins, the name Beyonce has quickly gained widespread recognition and popularity, particularly due to the fame of the American singer and performer Beyonce Knowles. Born in 1981, Beyonce Knowles is undoubtedly the most famous individual to bear this name, and her influence has played a significant role in its mainstream usage.
While there are no known historical references or appearances of the name Beyonce in ancient texts or religious scriptures, a few other notable individuals have shared this moniker. Beyonce Brown, an American fashion designer and entrepreneur, was born in 1985 and has gained recognition for her work in the fashion industry.
Another individual named Beyonce is Beyonce Altan, a Turkish singer and songwriter born in 1982. She has released several albums and has gained a following in her home country of Turkey.
In the world of sports, Beyonce Zulu is a South African professional soccer player who has represented her country on the national team. She was born in 1991 and has played for various clubs in South Africa and abroad.
While these individuals may not be as well-known as Beyonce Knowles, they have contributed to the increasing recognition and use of this unique name in various fields and cultures worldwide.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Beyonce
People
Beyonce + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Beyonce 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
Beyonce: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Beyonce?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,939 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Beyonce 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 176,769 US residents.
Is Beyonce a common name?
We classify Beyonce as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,970 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Beyonce most popular?
The single biggest year for Beyonce was 2001, when 353 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Beyonce is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Beyonce in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,668 people with the name Beyonce, 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 Beyonce 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 Beyonce?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Beyonce appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,672 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Beyonce?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Beyonce is Hispanic at 48.2%. The next largest groups are Black (40.7%) and White (4.0%). 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 Beyonce most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Beyonce in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.2% (804 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 Beyonce in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Beyonce a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Beyonce in the SSA data are female. 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 Beyonce still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Beyonce 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 Beyonce 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 Beyonce?
You can see how many people have the name Beyonce on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.