Gentry
From Old English, signifying noble birth and social standing.
Name Census estimates that about 6,183 living Americans carry the first name Gentry. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 61.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Gentry today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gentry births was 2021 (303 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gentry. 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.
Key insights
- • Gentry sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
6.2K
~ 1 in 55,435 Americans
Peak year
2021
303 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,598
Tracked since 1884
Census
Gentry in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,693 people with the first name Gentry, which placed it at #4,106 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
#4,106
National first-name rank
People counted
4.7K
4,693 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gentry
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gentry is White at 81.2%. The next largest groups are Black (9.0%) 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 Gentry 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 Gentry at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.2% · 3,813
- Black or African American9.0% · 422
- Two or more races4.3% · 202
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 148
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 74
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 34
Gender
Gender distribution for Gentry
Gentry is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 6,882 total registrations, 4,199 (61.0%) were male and 2,683 (39.0%) were female.
Gentry as a male name
- Ranked #1,598 in 2024
- 107 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (166 births)
Gentry as a female name
- Ranked #2,461 in 2024
- 73 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (151 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Gentry on both sides of the split. Of the 4,693 people counted with this name, 2,615 were male (55.7%) and 2,078 were female (44.3%).
Popularity
Gentry: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gentry from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,087 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Gentry remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gentry 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 Gentry during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gentrys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri recorded the most babies named Gentry, while Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 89 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gentry
The name Gentry is of English origin and is derived from the Old French word "genterie," which means "nobility" or "gentle birth." This name has its roots in the Middle Ages, when the concept of a hereditary class of landed gentry emerged in medieval England.
During the 11th and 12th centuries, the Norman conquest of England introduced a new social hierarchy, with the ruling class of Norman nobility at the top. The term "gentry" referred to the class of landowners and minor nobility who held a respected position in society, just below the ranks of the titled aristocracy.
While the name Gentry does not appear to have any direct historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is closely tied to the social and political structure of medieval England. The earliest recorded examples of the name can be traced back to the 13th and 14th centuries, when it was used to identify individuals belonging to the gentry class.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Gentry was Sir Thomas Gentry, an English knight who lived during the reign of King Edward III in the 14th century. Another prominent individual was John Gentry, a member of the English Parliament in the late 16th century, who played a role in the political turmoil surrounding the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
In the 17th century, Edward Gentry was a prominent Puritan clergyman and author who wrote extensively on religious and theological matters. His works, such as "The Blind Guyde" and "The Way of Truth and Peace," were influential during the English Civil War period.
During the 18th century, Marmaduke Gentry was a British naval officer who served in the Royal Navy and participated in several notable battles, including the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759.
In the 19th century, Littleton Gentry was an American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee from 1839 to 1843.
These examples illustrate the long and storied history of the name Gentry, which has been associated with various notable figures from different walks of life throughout the centuries, reflecting its origins as a designation of social status and nobility.
People
Gentry + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gentry 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
Gentry: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gentry?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,183 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gentry 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 55,435 US residents.
Is Gentry a common name?
We classify Gentry 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, 6,882 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gentry most popular?
The single biggest year for Gentry was 2021, when 303 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gentry is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gentry in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,693 people with the name Gentry, or 1.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,106 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 Gentry 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 Gentry?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Gentry on both sides of the split. Of the 4,693 people counted with this name, 2,615 were male (55.7%) and 2,078 were female (44.3%). 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 Gentry?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gentry is White at 81.2%. The next largest groups are Black (9.0%) 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 Gentry most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gentry in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.2% (3,813 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 Gentry in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gentry a male name?
Yes, 61.0% of people registered as Gentry 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 Gentry still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gentry 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 Gentry 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 Gentry?
Find out how many people have the name Gentry on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.