General
A title meaning the chief officer of a military force.
Name Census estimates that about 1,254 living Americans carry the first name General. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named General today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of General births was 1918 (105 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for General. 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
1.3K
~ 1 in 273,329 Americans
Peak year
1918
105 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,195
Tracked since 1880
Census
General in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,043 people with the first name General, which placed it at #12,065 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
#12,065
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,043 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
59.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for General
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named General is Black at 59.1%. The next largest groups are White (31.2%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 General 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 General at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American59.1% · 616
- White31.2% · 325
- Two or more races4.3% · 45
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 33
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 11
Popularity
General: popularity over time
The SSA tracks General from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 698 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
General 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 General during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Generals live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina recorded the most babies named General, while Missouri, Florida, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 96 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of General
The given name General is derived from the Latin word "generalis," which means "relating to all" or "universal." This name has a rich history dating back to ancient Rome, where it was initially used as a military rank for a commander or leader of an army.
During the Roman Republic and Empire, the title "Generalis" was given to high-ranking military officers who had proven their leadership abilities and strategic prowess on the battlefield. These generals often played pivotal roles in shaping the course of history through their military campaigns and conquests.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name General can be found in the writings of ancient Roman historians like Livy and Tacitus, who documented the exploits of renowned generals such as Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, and Scipio Africanus.
As the name General gained prominence, it began to be adopted as a given name, particularly among families with military roots or aspirations. In the Middle Ages, the name continued to be associated with military prowess and leadership, with notable individuals bearing the name, such as General Belisarius, a Byzantine military commander who lived from around 505 to 565 AD.
Throughout history, several influential figures have carried the name General, including General George Washington (1732-1799), the first President of the United States and the leader of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War; General Georgy Zhukov (1896-1974), a Soviet military commander who played a crucial role in the victory over Nazi Germany during World War II; and General Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), a French military leader and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II and later served as the President of France.
Other notable individuals with the name General include General Patton (1885-1945), a highly successful American military leader during World War II, known for his bold tactics and leadership; and General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), the Supreme Allied Commander during World War II and later the 34th President of the United States.
While the name General has a strong association with military leadership, it has also been used by individuals from various walks of life, reflecting the universal and broad connotations of the name's Latin origin.
People
General + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with General 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
General: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named General?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,254 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for General 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 273,329 US residents.
Is General a common name?
We classify General as "Rare". It ranks above 91.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,025 babies have been registered with this name.
When was General most popular?
The single biggest year for General was 1918, when 105 babies received the name. The fact that the average living General is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was General in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,043 people with the name General, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,065 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 General 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 General?
In the 2020 Census sex table, General leans strongly male. 1,027 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 17 female bearers (1.6%). 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 General?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named General is Black at 59.1%. The next largest groups are White (31.2%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 General most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named General in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.1% (616 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 General in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is General a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as General 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 General still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded General 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 General 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 General?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.