Gus
A shortened form of the Germanic name Augustus, meaning "venerable" or "magnificent".
Name Census estimates that about 9,004 living Americans carry the first name Gus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gus today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gus births was 1921 (327 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gus. 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 Gus with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
9.0K
~ 1 in 38,067 Americans
Peak year
1921
327 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,212
Tracked since 1880
Census
Gus in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,515 people with the first name Gus, which placed it at #2,380 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
#2,380
National first-name rank
People counted
11K
10,515 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gus
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gus is White at 69.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.0%) and Black (8.8%). 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 Gus 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 Gus at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.7% · 7,327
- Hispanic or Latino17.0% · 1,789
- Black or African American8.8% · 929
- Two or more races2.3% · 239
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 156
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 75
Gender
Gender distribution for Gus
Out of the 19,977 babies given the name Gus since 1880, 100.0% 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.
Gus as a male name
- Ranked #1,212 in 2024
- 166 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1921 (327 births)
Gus as a female name
- Ranked #5,401 in 1924
- 5 female births in 1924
- Peak: 1924 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gus appears almost entirely male. Of the 10,519 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Gus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gus 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 2,944 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
Gus 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 Gus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gus' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. Texas, New York, California recorded the most babies named Gus, while South Dakota, North Dakota, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 317 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gus
The name Gus originates from the Germanic elements "gudi" meaning "god" and "hūs" meaning "house" or "follower". It is a diminutive or shortened form of the name Gustav or Augustine. The name gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in regions with Germanic cultural influences.
Gustav is derived from the Old Norse name Guðlaugr, which combines the elements "guð" (god) and "laugr" (basin or pool). This name was introduced to Sweden by settlers from the island of Gotland. It later spread to other parts of Scandinavia and Europe.
Augustine, on the other hand, has its roots in the Latin name Augustinus, which is derived from the Roman name Augustus. Augustus was a title given to Roman emperors, meaning "venerable" or "consecrated". The name Augustine was popularized by the influential philosopher and theologian Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD).
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gus can be found in the 12th century, when a Flemish nobleman named Gus de Dampierre was mentioned in historical records. The name was also used by several medieval German rulers, such as Gus von Leiningen (1450-1504) and Gus von Hessen (1481-1513).
Notable individuals named Gus throughout history include:
1. Gus Grissom (1926-1967), an American astronaut and one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts.
2. Gus Van Sant (born 1952), an American filmmaker known for movies like "Good Will Hunting" and "Milk".
3. Gus Mutscher (1905-1988), an American football player and coach who led the University of Texas Longhorns to a national championship in 1963.
4. Gus Paulsen (1918-2012), a Danish-American jazz drummer and vibraphonist who played with renowned artists like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.
5. Gus Van Harten (1924-2021), a Dutch-American entrepreneur and real estate developer who co-founded the Vons supermarket chain.
The name Gus has been used across various cultures and time periods, carrying a rich history and diverse connotations. Its Germanic origins and associations with divine and noble figures have contributed to its enduring popularity throughout the centuries.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Gus
People
Gus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gus 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
Gus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,004 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gus 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 38,067 US residents.
Is Gus a common name?
We classify Gus as "Rare". It ranks above 97.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 19,977 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gus most popular?
The single biggest year for Gus was 1921, when 327 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gus is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gus in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,515 people with the name Gus, or 3.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,380 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 Gus 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 Gus?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gus appears almost entirely male. Of the 10,519 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Gus?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gus is White at 69.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.0%) and Black (8.8%). 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 Gus most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gus in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.7% (7,327 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 Gus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gus 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 Gus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gus 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 Gus 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 Gus?
See how many people have the name Gus on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.