Glenn
Scottish surname transferred to a masculine given name of Celtic origin meaning "valley".
Name Census estimates that about 147,202 living Americans carry the first name Glenn. It is a predominantly male name (99.1% of registrations). The average person named Glenn today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Glenn births was 1962 (7,391 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Glenn. 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 Glenn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Glenn is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 2,136 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Glenn have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
147K
~ 1 in 2,328 Americans
Peak year
1962
7,391 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,362
Tracked since 1880
Census
Glenn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 145,763 people with the first name Glenn, which placed it at #383 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
#383
National first-name rank
People counted
146K
145,763 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
48.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Glenn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Glenn is White at 81.5%. The next largest groups are Black (9.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Glenn 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 Glenn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.5% · 118,820
- Black or African American9.3% · 13,566
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 5,206
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 3,710
- Two or more races2.4% · 3,516
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 945
Gender
Gender distribution for Glenn
Out of the 250,653 babies given the name Glenn since 1880, 99.1% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Glenn as a male name
- Ranked #1,362 in 2024
- 138 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1962 (7,358 births)
Glenn as a female name
- Ranked #16,198 in 2001
- 5 female births in 2001
- Peak: 1925 (48 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Glenn appears almost entirely male. Of the 145,760 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Glenn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Glenn from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 58,994 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Glenn 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 Glenn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Glenns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New York, California recorded the most babies named Glenn, while Nevada, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,729 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Glenn
The name Glenn has its origins in the Scottish Gaelic language, deriving from the Gaelic word "gleann," which translates to "valley" or "glen." It is believed to have emerged as a surname in Scotland during the Middle Ages, referring to someone who lived in or near a valley or glen.
The earliest recorded use of Glenn as a given name dates back to the late 16th century in Scotland. One of the earliest documented individuals with this name was Glenn Telfer, a Scottish poet who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
In the 17th century, the name gained popularity in Ireland, where it was often anglicized as "Glenn" from the Irish Gaelic version "Gleann." One notable figure from this period was Glenn Lough, an Irish poet and historian who lived in the late 17th century.
As the name spread to other parts of the world, it became associated with various individuals of note. In the 18th century, Glenn Scobie was a Scottish artist known for his landscape paintings depicting the glens and valleys of Scotland.
In the 19th century, the name gained further recognition with the birth of Glenn Cunningham (1909-1988), an American athlete who overcame numerous physical challenges to become a world-renowned distance runner and Olympic medalist.
Another prominent figure bearing the name Glenn was John Glenn (1921-2016), an American aviator, astronaut, and United States Senator. He was the first American to orbit the Earth, aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft in 1962, and later became the oldest person to travel in space at the age of 77.
Throughout history, the name Glenn has been associated with individuals from various walks of life, including artists, writers, athletes, and explorers, all connected by the name's roots in the Scottish Gaelic word for "valley" or "glen."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Glenn
People
Glenn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Glenn 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
Glenn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Glenn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 147,202 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Glenn 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 2,328 US residents.
Is Glenn a common name?
We classify Glenn as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 250,653 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Glenn most popular?
The single biggest year for Glenn was 1962, when 7,391 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Glenn is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Glenn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 145,763 people with the name Glenn, or 48.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #383 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 Glenn 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 Glenn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Glenn appears almost entirely male. Of the 145,760 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Glenn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Glenn is White at 81.5%. The next largest groups are Black (9.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Glenn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Glenn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.5% (118,820 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 Glenn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Glenn a male name?
Yes, 99.1% of people registered as Glenn 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 Glenn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Glenn 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 Glenn 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 are named Glenn?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.