Gussie
A diminutive feminine form of the name Augusta meaning "majestic" or "venerable".
Name Census estimates that about 1,526 living Americans carry the first name Gussie. It is a predominantly female name (92.3% of registrations). The average person named Gussie today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gussie births was 1918 (417 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gussie. 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 Gussie is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gussies were born before 1957.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 224,610 Americans
Peak year
1918
417 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1979 SSA rank
#6,414
Tracked since 1880
Census
Gussie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,740 people with the first name Gussie, which placed it at #8,356 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
#8,356
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,740 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
69.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gussie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gussie is Black at 69.6%. The next largest groups are White (25.4%) and Two or More Races (2.6%). 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 Gussie 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 Gussie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American69.6% · 1,211
- White25.4% · 442
- Two or more races2.6% · 46
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Gussie
Gussie leans heavily female at 92.3% of total registrations, but 1,098 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Gussie as a male name
- Ranked #6,414 in 1979
- 5 male births in 1979
- Peak: 1922 (35 births)
Gussie as a female name
- Ranked #9,640 in 1991
- 8 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1918 (391 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gussie leans strongly female. 1,547 people counted with this name were female (89.0%), compared with 191 male bearers (11.0%).
Popularity
Gussie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gussie from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 3,445 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gussie 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 Gussie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gussies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. Georgia, Alabama, New York recorded the most babies named Gussie, while West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 379 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gussie
The name Gussie is a diminutive form of the Germanic name Augusta, which was derived from the Latin word "augustus" meaning "venerable" or "consecrated." It was originally a title bestowed upon Roman emperors and signified greatness and majesty.
In the early centuries, the name Augusta was used by Roman nobility and gained popularity during the reign of the first Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar (63 BC - 14 AD). It was often given to female members of the imperial family.
The name Gussie emerged as a nickname for Augusta, particularly in English-speaking countries. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gussie dates back to the 16th century, when it was used as a diminutive form of Augusta or Augustina.
Historically, Gussie has been more commonly used as a feminine name, although there have been instances of it being used for males as well. One notable bearer of the name was Gussie Busch (1899-1989), an American businessman and chairman of the Anheuser-Busch Companies.
Another famous Gussie was Gussie Moran (1923-2013), an American tennis player known for her daring lace-trimmed underwear at Wimbledon in 1949. Her real name was Gertrude Augusta Moran, and she was nicknamed "Gussie" by her family.
In literature, Gussie Fink-Nottle is a memorable character from P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster series, known for his eccentric behavior and obsession with newts.
Gussie Nell Davis (1917-1994) was an American female baseball player who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II.
Gussie Lord (1862-1943) was an American actress and vaudeville performer who starred in several Broadway productions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
While the name Gussie has declined in popularity in recent decades, it remains a unique and charming diminutive with a rich history rooted in ancient Roman tradition and nobility.
People
Gussie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gussie 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
Gussie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gussie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,526 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gussie 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 224,610 US residents.
Is Gussie a common name?
We classify Gussie as "Rare". It ranks above 92.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,182 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gussie most popular?
The single biggest year for Gussie was 1918, when 417 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gussie 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 Gussie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,740 people with the name Gussie, or 0.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,356 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 Gussie 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 Gussie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gussie leans strongly female. 1,547 people counted with this name were female (89.0%), compared with 191 male bearers (11.0%). 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 Gussie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gussie is Black at 69.6%. The next largest groups are White (25.4%) and Two or More Races (2.6%). 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 Gussie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Gussie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.6% (1,211 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 Gussie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gussie a female name?
Yes, 92.3% of people registered as Gussie in the SSA data are female. 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 Gussie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gussie 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 Gussie 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 Gussie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.