Capone
A masculine Italian given name derived from the term "capo", meaning "chief" or "boss".
Name Census estimates that about 221 living Americans carry the first name Capone. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Capone today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Capone births was 2007 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Capone. 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.
People living today
221
~ 1 in 1,550,925 Americans
Peak year
2007
18 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,602
Tracked since 1996
Census
Capone in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 177 people with the first name Capone, which placed it at #41,393 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
#41,393
National first-name rank
People counted
177
177 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
41.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Capone
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Capone is Black at 41.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.6%) and White (13.0%). 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 Capone 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 Capone at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American41.2% · 73
- Hispanic or Latino31.6% · 56
- White13.0% · 23
- Two or more races7.3% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.6% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 2
Popularity
Capone: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Capone 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 108 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
Capone 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 Capone during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Capones live
Origin
Meaning and history of Capone
The given name Capone has its roots in the Italian language. It is believed to have originated as a nickname or surname derived from the Italian word "capo," meaning "head" or "leader." This indicates that the name may have initially referred to someone who held a position of authority or leadership within a community.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Capone date back to the late Middle Ages in Italy. Some historical records suggest that the name was prevalent in certain regions of Italy, particularly in the northern regions such as Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna.
One of the most notable historical figures associated with the name Capone is Al Capone, the infamous American gangster who rose to prominence during the Prohibition era in the 1920s. Born in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York, Al Capone became the leader of the Chicago Outfit, a powerful criminal organization known for its involvement in bootlegging, racketeering, and other illicit activities.
Beyond Al Capone, there are several other individuals throughout history who have borne the given name Capone. One example is Capone Bingo, a Japanese actor and voice actor born in 1959. He has lent his voice to numerous anime series and video games.
Another notable figure is Capone Claudio, an Italian painter and sculptor from the 16th century. Born in Cremona in 1552, Claudio was a prominent artist during the Renaissance period, known for his religious paintings and sculptures commissioned by churches and patrons across Italy.
In the realm of literature, Capone Ferdinando was an Italian writer and poet who lived in the late 19th century. Born in Naples in 1858, he gained recognition for his poetic works that explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition.
Lastly, Capone Giovanni was an Italian military leader and condottiero (mercenary captain) who lived during the 15th century. Born around 1420 in Lombardy, he rose to prominence as a skilled commander and played a significant role in the various conflicts and power struggles that characterized the Italian Renaissance period.
It is worth noting that while the given name Capone has historical roots and associations, its usage as a first name has been relatively uncommon throughout history, likely due to its connection with the notorious American gangster Al Capone.
People
Capone + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Capone as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Capone: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Capone?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 221 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Capone 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 1,550,925 US residents.
Is Capone a common name?
We classify Capone as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 223 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Capone most popular?
The single biggest year for Capone was 2007, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Capone is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Capone in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 177 people with the name Capone, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,393 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 Capone 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 Capone?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Capone leans strongly male. 178 people counted with this name were male (97.3%), compared with 5 female bearers (2.7%). 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 Capone?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Capone is Black at 41.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.6%) and White (13.0%). 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 Capone most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Capone in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.2% (73 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 Capone in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Capone a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Capone 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 Capone still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Capone 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 Capone 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 Americans are named Capone?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.