Green
Associated with nature, plants, and environmentally-friendly principles or attitudes.
Name Census estimates that about 321 living Americans carry the first name Green. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Green today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Green births was 1927 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Green. 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
- • The typical person named Green is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Greens were born before 1957.
People living today
321
~ 1 in 1,067,771 Americans
Peak year
1927
48 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1984 SSA rank
#5,843
Tracked since 1880
Census
Green in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 994 people with the first name Green, which placed it at #12,493 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
#12,493
National first-name rank
People counted
994
994 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Green
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Green is White at 44.6%. The next largest groups are Black (33.3%) and Hispanic (9.8%). 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 Green 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 Green at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.6% · 443
- Black or African American33.3% · 331
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 97
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.1% · 90
- Two or more races2.7% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 6
Popularity
Green: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Green from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 376 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
Green 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 Green during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Greens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Green, while Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 62 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Green
The name Green has its origins in the Old English language, where it was derived from the word "grene," meaning the color green. This word can be traced back to the Proto-Germanic "gro-niz," which itself stems from the Proto-Indo-European root "ghre," meaning "to grow." The name likely emerged as a descriptive term for someone with green eyes or complexion, or perhaps someone who lived near a particularly verdant area.
In medieval times, Green was sometimes used as a surname for those living in or near a green or common area. As early as the 13th century, records show instances of individuals with the surname Green, though its use as a given name didn't become prevalent until later.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Green was Green Townsend, an English Puritan minister born in 1588. He later emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s and served as a pastor in several towns.
In the late 17th century, Green Verditor was a notable English lawyer and judge who served as the Solicitor General of England from 1676 to 1686.
During the American Revolutionary War, Green Berry was a Continental Army soldier who fought in several major battles, including the Siege of Yorktown in 1781.
In the 19th century, Green Clay Smith was a prominent American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky between 1863 and 1865.
Another notable individual with the first name Green was Green Cunningham, an American frontiersman and explorer who was among the first settlers of Texas in the early 19th century.
While the name Green has never been among the most common first names, it has been used throughout history in various cultures and contexts, often reflecting a connection to nature and the color green.
People
Green + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Green 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
Green: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Green?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 321 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Green 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 1,067,771 US residents.
Is Green a common name?
We classify Green as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,033 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Green most popular?
The single biggest year for Green was 1927, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Green is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Green in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 994 people with the name Green, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,493 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 Green 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 Green?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Green on both sides of the split. Of the 995 people counted with this name, 667 were male (67.0%) and 328 were female (33.0%). 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 Green?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Green is White at 44.6%. The next largest groups are Black (33.3%) and Hispanic (9.8%). 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 Green most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Green in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.6% (443 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 Green in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Green a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Green 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 Green still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Green 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 Green 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 called Green?
You can see how many people share the name Green on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.