Essex
A masculine name derived from an ancient English kingdom.
Name Census estimates that about 229 living Americans carry the first name Essex. It is a predominantly male name (98.1% of registrations). The average person named Essex today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Essex births was 2023 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Essex. 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
229
~ 1 in 1,496,744 Americans
Peak year
2023
24 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,495
Tracked since 1882
Census
Essex in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 266 people with the first name Essex, which placed it at #31,950 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
#31,950
National first-name rank
People counted
266
266 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
63.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Essex
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Essex is Black at 63.2%. The next largest groups are White (20.3%) and Hispanic (6.4%). 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 Essex 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 Essex at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American63.2% · 168
- White20.3% · 54
- Hispanic or Latino6.4% · 17
- Two or more races5.6% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Essex
Essex leans heavily male at 98.1% of total registrations, but 8 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Essex as a male name
- Ranked #5,495 in 2024
- 17 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (17 births)
Essex as a female name
- Ranked #11,507 in 2023
- 8 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2023 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Essex leans strongly male. 251 people counted with this name were male (93.7%), compared with 17 female bearers (6.3%).
Popularity
Essex: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Essex from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 64 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Essex 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 Essex during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Essex
The name Essex is a toponymic name, derived from the county of Essex in England. The origin of the place name Essex can be traced back to the Old English words 'Eastseaxe', meaning 'the East Saxons'. This refers to the Germanic tribe that settled in the region during the 5th century AD, after the departure of the Roman legions from Britain.
The first recorded use of the name Essex dates back to the 7th century AD, when the Kingdom of Essex was established as one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The name appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record of events in early medieval England, which mentions the rulers of Essex during that period.
In later centuries, the name Essex gained popularity as a given name, particularly among the English nobility and gentry. One of the earliest notable bearers of the name was Essex Digby, born in 1589, who was an English politician and member of the House of Commons.
Another prominent figure was Essex Cholmondeley, born in 1601, who was an English landowner and Member of Parliament for Malmesbury. In the 18th century, Essex Edgeworth, born in 1744, was an Irish politician and writer, best known for his memoirs and literary works.
During the 19th century, Essex Browne, born in 1823, was an English cricketer who played for the Marylebone Cricket Club. Essex Dane, born in 1784, was a British naval officer who served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.
The name Essex has also appeared in various works of literature, including the plays of William Shakespeare. In "Henry V", the character of Essex is mentioned as one of the English noblemen participating in the Battle of Agincourt.
While the name Essex is primarily associated with England and its historical roots, it has also been adopted in other parts of the world, particularly in countries with strong cultural ties to Britain. However, its usage as a given name remains relatively uncommon compared to other English names.
People
Essex + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Essex as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Essex: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Essex?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 229 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Essex 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 1,496,744 US residents.
Is Essex a common name?
We classify Essex as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 422 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Essex most popular?
The single biggest year for Essex was 2023, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Essex is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Essex in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 266 people with the name Essex, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,950 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 Essex 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 Essex?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Essex leans strongly male. 251 people counted with this name were male (93.7%), compared with 17 female bearers (6.3%). 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 Essex?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Essex is Black at 63.2%. The next largest groups are White (20.3%) and Hispanic (6.4%). 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 Essex most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Essex in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.2% (168 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 Essex in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Essex a male name?
Yes, 98.1% of people registered as Essex 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 Essex still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Essex 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 Essex 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 Essex?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.