Burke
A masculine name of Germanic origin, meaning "fortified manor or hill".
Name Census estimates that about 3,264 living Americans carry the first name Burke. It is a predominantly male name (98.3% of registrations). The average person named Burke today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Burke births was 2014 (79 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Burke. 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
- • Although Burke is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 70 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
3.3K
~ 1 in 105,011 Americans
Peak year
2014
79 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,218
Tracked since 1881
Census
Burke in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,112 people with the first name Burke, which placed it at #5,496 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
#5,496
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,112 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Burke
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Burke is White at 89.5%. The next largest groups are Black (3.6%) and Two or More Races (3.0%). 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 Burke 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 Burke at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.5% · 2,785
- Black or African American3.6% · 112
- Two or more races3.0% · 93
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 77
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 21
Gender
Gender distribution for Burke
Burke leans heavily male at 98.3% of total registrations, but 70 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Burke as a male name
- Ranked #3,218 in 2024
- 37 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (78 births)
Burke as a female name
- Ranked #15,603 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2017 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Burke leans strongly male. 2,978 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 140 female bearers (4.5%).
Popularity
Burke: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Burke from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 681 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Burke remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Burke 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 Burke during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Burkes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. Utah, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Burke, while Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Burke
The name Burke is an English given name derived from the Old English word "burh" or "burgh," meaning a fortified town or settlement. It is believed to have originated as a surname referring to someone who lived in or near a borough or fortified town.
The earliest recorded use of the name Burke as a given name dates back to the late 16th century. One of the earliest known individuals with the name was Burke Ryan, an Irish soldier born in 1582 who fought in the Nine Years' War against the English.
In the 17th century, the name gained popularity among the English and Irish aristocracy. A notable figure was Burke of Clanricarde, an Irish nobleman born in 1604 who played a significant role in the Irish Confederate Wars against the English government.
During the 18th century, the name Burke became more widespread across different social classes. Edmund Burke, an Irish political philosopher and statesman born in 1729, is one of the most famous individuals with this name. He is renowned for his influential work on political theory and his support for the American Revolution.
In the 19th century, the name Burke continued to be used, particularly in the United States. Robert O'Hara Burke, an Irish soldier and explorer born in 1821, led an ill-fated expedition across Australia, which resulted in his death and that of several members of his party.
Another notable figure from this period was William Burke, an Irish serial killer born in 1792, who became infamous for his involvement in the West Port murders in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he and his accomplice murdered numerous people and sold their bodies for dissection.
As the name Burke gained popularity, it was also adopted by various literary and artistic figures. John Brendan Burke, an American author and playwright born in 1936, is known for his works exploring themes of identity and the human condition.
While the name Burke has its origins in the English language, it has been embraced by various cultures and societies throughout history, reflecting its enduring appeal and versatility as a given name.
People
Burke + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Burke 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
Burke: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Burke?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,264 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Burke 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 105,011 US residents.
Is Burke a common name?
We classify Burke as "Rare". It ranks above 95.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,137 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Burke most popular?
The single biggest year for Burke was 2014, when 79 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Burke is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Burke in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,112 people with the name Burke, or 1.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,496 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 Burke 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 Burke?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Burke leans strongly male. 2,978 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 140 female bearers (4.5%). 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 Burke?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Burke is White at 89.5%. The next largest groups are Black (3.6%) and Two or More Races (3.0%). 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 Burke most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Burke in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.5% (2,785 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 Burke in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Burke a male name?
Yes, 98.3% of people registered as Burke 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 Burke still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Burke 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 Burke 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 common is the name Burke?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Burke at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.