Gates
A gender-neutral name of English origin referring to the entrances or exits of a walled enclosure or city.
Name Census estimates that about 439 living Americans carry the first name Gates. It is a predominantly male name (90.8% of registrations). The average person named Gates today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gates births was 2024 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gates. 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
439
~ 1 in 780,762 Americans
Peak year
2024
37 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,231
Tracked since 1904
Census
Gates in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 507 people with the first name Gates, which placed it at #20,390 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
#20,390
National first-name rank
People counted
507
507 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gates
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gates is White at 85.2%. The next largest groups are Black (5.9%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Gates 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 Gates at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.2% · 432
- Black or African American5.9% · 30
- Two or more races3.6% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Gates
Gates leans heavily male at 90.8% of total registrations, but 44 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Gates as a male name
- Ranked #3,231 in 2024
- 37 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (37 births)
Gates as a female name
- Ranked #15,865 in 2000
- 5 female births in 2000
- Peak: 1994 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gates leans strongly male. 409 people counted with this name were male (80.4%), compared with 100 female bearers (19.6%).
Popularity
Gates: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gates from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 127 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
Gates 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 Gates during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gates' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Gates
The name Gates is an English word that originated in the Middle Ages. It refers to an entranceway or a passage, often associated with a town or a city. The word is derived from the Old Norse word "gata," which means a road or a path.
Gates was initially used as a surname, referring to individuals who lived near or were responsible for maintaining a town's gates. However, over time, it also became a first name, particularly in English-speaking countries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of Gates as a first name dates back to the 13th century. In the historical records of the city of York, England, there is a mention of a man named Gates de Beverley, who lived in the late 1200s.
In the 16th century, the name Gates gained popularity among Puritans and Protestant reformers. They often chose biblical names or names with symbolic meanings, and Gates was seen as representing the idea of entering into a new life or a new spiritual path.
One notable figure from this era was Gates Thurston, an English Puritan minister who lived from 1587 to 1648. He was a prominent figure in the Puritan movement and played a significant role in the religious and political turmoil of the English Civil War.
In the 17th century, the name Gates was also associated with the American colonies. Gates LeGrand, born in 1655 in Virginia, was one of the earliest recorded individuals with this first name in the New World.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the name Gates became more widespread, particularly in the United States. One notable figure from this period was Gates Willcox, an American lawyer and politician who lived from 1785 to 1865. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York.
Another prominent individual with the name Gates was Gates McGarrah, an American banker and businessman who lived from 1863 to 1944. He was the founder of the Bank of California and played a significant role in the development of the banking industry in the Western United States.
In the 20th century, the name Gates gained further recognition with individuals like Gates Brown, an American actor and musician who lived from 1939 to 2005. He is best known for his role in the movie "Clockwork Orange" and his work with the rock band Curved Air.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Gates
People
Gates + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gates as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Gates: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gates?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 439 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gates 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 780,762 US residents.
Is Gates a common name?
We classify Gates as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 478 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gates most popular?
The single biggest year for Gates was 2024, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gates is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gates in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 507 people with the name Gates, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,390 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 Gates 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 Gates?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gates leans strongly male. 409 people counted with this name were male (80.4%), compared with 100 female bearers (19.6%). 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 Gates?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gates is White at 85.2%. The next largest groups are Black (5.9%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Gates most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gates in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.2% (432 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 Gates in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gates a male name?
Yes, 90.8% of people registered as Gates 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 Gates still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gates 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 Gates 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 Gates?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.