Fisher
A name derived from the occupation of catching fish.
Name Census estimates that about 6,090 living Americans carry the first name Fisher. It is a predominantly male name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Fisher today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fisher births was 2016 (315 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fisher. 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 Fisher with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Fisher is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 65 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Fisher is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
6.1K
~ 1 in 56,282 Americans
Peak year
2016
315 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#897
Tracked since 1882
Census
Fisher in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,942 people with the first name Fisher, which placed it at #3,944 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
#3,944
National first-name rank
People counted
4.9K
4,942 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fisher
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fisher is White at 87.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Fisher 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 Fisher at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.5% · 4,322
- Two or more races4.5% · 220
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 184
- Black or African American2.4% · 119
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 51
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 46
Gender
Gender distribution for Fisher
Fisher leans heavily male at 99.0% of total registrations, but 65 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Fisher as a male name
- Ranked #897 in 2024
- 262 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (310 births)
Fisher as a female name
- Ranked #16,028 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fisher leans strongly male. 4,787 people counted with this name were male (96.9%), compared with 151 female bearers (3.1%).
Popularity
Fisher: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fisher from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,847 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Fisher remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fisher 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 Fisher during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Fishers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. Texas, Florida, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Fisher, while West Virginia, North Dakota, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 130 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Fisher
The name Fisher is an English occupational surname that has been used as a given name. It originates from the Old English word "fisc" or "fiscere," which means "fish" or "fisherman." The name can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon period in England, around the 5th to 11th centuries.
In medieval times, Fisher was a common occupational surname given to individuals who worked as fishermen or fish mongers. It was a practical name that reflected the trade or profession of the person or their family. The name likely became more widespread during the Middle Ages when surnames started to become hereditary.
One of the earliest recorded uses of Fisher as a given name dates back to the late 16th century. William Fisher, an English clergyman and academic, was born in 1540 and served as the President of Queens' College, Cambridge, from 1605 to 1609.
In the 17th century, Fisher emerged as a Puritan name, particularly among English Separatists and Puritans who migrated to the American colonies. Notable individuals with this name from this period include Samuel Fisher (1605-1665), an early Quaker leader and author in England, and Mary Fisher (1623-1698), a Quaker missionary who was among the first to bring Quakerism to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
In the late 18th century, Fisher gained some prominence as a first name among English and American families. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Fisher Ames (1758-1808), an American politician and orator who served as a Congressman from Massachusetts and played a significant role in the ratification of the United States Constitution.
Another notable figure was Fisher King (1770-1842), a renowned English writer, poet, and playwright, best known for his satirical works and his influence on the Romantic literary movement. He was a close friend and contemporary of the renowned poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth.
During the 19th century, the name Fisher continued to be used, though it remained relatively uncommon. One prominent individual with this name was Fisher Ames Hildreth (1838-1899), an American lawyer, author, and Union Army officer during the American Civil War.
Throughout history, the name Fisher has been associated with occupations related to fishing, as well as individuals from various backgrounds, including religious leaders, politicians, writers, and military figures. While not a widely popular name, it has maintained a presence and has been carried forward by families and individuals over several centuries.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Fisher
People
Fisher + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fisher as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Fisher: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fisher?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,090 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fisher 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 56,282 US residents.
Is Fisher a common name?
We classify Fisher as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,324 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fisher most popular?
The single biggest year for Fisher was 2016, when 315 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fisher is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Fisher in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,942 people with the name Fisher, or 1.64 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,944 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 Fisher 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 Fisher?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fisher leans strongly male. 4,787 people counted with this name were male (96.9%), compared with 151 female bearers (3.1%). 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 Fisher?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fisher is White at 87.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Fisher most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Fisher in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.5% (4,322 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 Fisher in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fisher a male name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Fisher 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 Fisher still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fisher 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 Fisher 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 have Fisher as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Fisher, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.