Birdie
A diminutive or feminine form of the name Bird or Byrd.
Name Census estimates that about 3,766 living Americans carry the first name Birdie. It is a predominantly female name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Birdie today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Birdie births was 2023 (411 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Birdie. 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 Birdie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Birdie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 106 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
3.8K
~ 1 in 91,013 Americans
Peak year
2023
411 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
1944 SSA rank
#754
Tracked since 1880
Census
Birdie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,578 people with the first name Birdie, which placed it at #6,257 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
#6,257
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,578 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Birdie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Birdie is White at 60.4%. The next largest groups are Black (29.3%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Birdie 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 Birdie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.4% · 1,558
- Black or African American29.3% · 756
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 124
- Two or more races3.4% · 87
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 21
Gender
Gender distribution for Birdie
Out of the 14,386 babies given the name Birdie since 1880, 99.3% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Birdie as a male name
- Ranked #3,480 in 1944
- 5 male births in 1944
- Peak: 1919 (9 births)
Birdie as a female name
- Ranked #754 in 2024
- 373 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (411 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Birdie leans strongly female. 2,533 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 44 male bearers (1.7%).
Popularity
Birdie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Birdie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 2,220 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Birdie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Birdie 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 Birdie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Birdies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Birdie, while Maryland, Massachusetts, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 211 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Birdie
The name Birdie is a diminutive derived from the word "bird." It originated in the English language and has been used as a nickname or pet name, particularly for girls and women, since the late 18th century.
Birdie first emerged as a playful term of endearment, likening the person to a small, delicate bird. It was often used as a nickname for someone with a bird-like voice, demeanor, or appearance. The name gained popularity during the Victorian era, when bird motifs and avian imagery were prevalent in art, literature, and fashion.
While Birdie is not found in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been recorded as a given name or nickname in various historical records and literature from the 19th century onwards. One of the earliest known individuals with the name Birdie was Birdie Stuart, an American actress born in 1878.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Birdie. Birdie Reeve (1884-1972) was an American vaudeville performer and singer. Birdie Geneva Williams (1900-1995) was an American jazz singer and actress who performed with the Ziegfeld Follies. Birdie Robbins (1916-2010) was a South African golfer and one of the best female players of her era.
Another famous Birdie was Birdie Geneva Hawkins (1923-2021), an American civil rights activist and community leader from Louisiana. She played a crucial role in desegregating schools and public facilities in her hometown during the Civil Rights Movement.
Birdie Melville (1926-2005) was a British actress and singer known for her roles in several films and television shows, including the popular sitcom "Dad's Army" in the 1970s.
While the name Birdie is not as common today as it once was, it remains a charming and whimsical choice, evoking a sense of lightness, freedom, and joy, much like the little feathered creatures it is inspired by.
People
Birdie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Birdie 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
Birdie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Birdie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,766 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Birdie 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 91,013 US residents.
Is Birdie a common name?
We classify Birdie as "Rare". It ranks above 95.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,386 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Birdie most popular?
The single biggest year for Birdie was 2023, when 411 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Birdie is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Birdie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,578 people with the name Birdie, or 0.85 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,257 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 Birdie 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 Birdie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Birdie leans strongly female. 2,533 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 44 male bearers (1.7%). 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 Birdie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Birdie is White at 60.4%. The next largest groups are Black (29.3%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Birdie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Birdie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.4% (1,558 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 Birdie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Birdie a female name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Birdie 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 Birdie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Birdie 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 Birdie 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 Birdie?
Find out how many Americans are named Birdie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.