Gregor
A masculine given name of Greek origin meaning "watchful" or "alert".
Name Census estimates that about 899 living Americans carry the first name Gregor. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gregor today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gregor births was 1962 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gregor. 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 Gregor with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
899
~ 1 in 381,262 Americans
Peak year
1962
26 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,087
Tracked since 1897
Census
Gregor in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,323 people with the first name Gregor, which placed it at #10,173 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
#10,173
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,323 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gregor
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gregor is White at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.4%) and Black (5.1%). 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 Gregor 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 Gregor at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.3% · 1,129
- Hispanic or Latino5.4% · 71
- Black or African American5.1% · 68
- Two or more races2.7% · 36
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 4
Popularity
Gregor: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gregor from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 189 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gregor 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 Gregor during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gregors live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Gregor, while Pennsylvania, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gregor
The name Gregor has its origins in the Greek language and culture. It is derived from the Greek word "gregorios," which means "watchful" or "vigilant." The name can be traced back to the ancient Greek world and was particularly popular during the Byzantine era.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gregor can be found in the writings of the early Christian Church. Saint Gregory the Illuminator, who lived in the 3rd and 4th centuries, was an influential figure in the spread of Christianity in Armenia. He is revered as the patron saint of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Another prominent historical figure bearing the name Gregor was Pope Gregory I, also known as Gregory the Great. He served as the Bishop of Rome from 590 to 604 AD and is considered one of the most influential popes in the history of the Catholic Church. Pope Gregory I played a crucial role in the development of the liturgy and is credited with initiating the Gregorian chants, which are still used in Catholic services today.
In the 6th century, Gregor of Tours, a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, wrote a seminal work titled "Historia Francorum" (History of the Franks). This chronicle is considered one of the most valuable sources of information about Merovingian Gaul and the early history of the Franks.
During the Middle Ages, the name Gregor gained popularity across Europe. One notable bearer of the name was Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk and botanist who lived from 1822 to 1884. Mendel is renowned for his groundbreaking work on the principles of heredity, which laid the foundation for the modern study of genetics.
Another famous Gregor was Gregor Strasser, a German politician who lived from 1892 to 1934. He was a prominent member of the Nazi Party in its early years but was later executed during the Night of the Long Knives purge due to his opposition to Hitler's leadership.
Throughout history, the name Gregor has been associated with individuals from various fields, including religion, science, politics, and the arts. While its origins can be traced back to ancient Greece, the name has transcended cultural boundaries and continues to be used in various parts of the world today.
People
Gregor + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gregor 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
Gregor: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gregor?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 899 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gregor 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 381,262 US residents.
Is Gregor a common name?
We classify Gregor as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,204 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gregor most popular?
The single biggest year for Gregor was 1962, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gregor is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gregor in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,323 people with the name Gregor, or 0.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,173 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 Gregor 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 Gregor?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gregor appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,329 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Gregor?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gregor is White at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.4%) and Black (5.1%). 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 Gregor most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gregor in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.3% (1,129 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 Gregor in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gregor a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gregor 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 Gregor still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gregor 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 Gregor 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 Gregor?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.