Gust
A male given name meaning "one who enjoys or appreciates."
Name Census estimates that about 351 living Americans carry the first name Gust. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gust today is around 74 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gust births was 1923 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gust. 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 Gust is about 74 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gusts were born before 1962.
People living today
351
~ 1 in 976,508 Americans
Peak year
1923
59 babies that year
Average age
74
years old
1984 SSA rank
#5,848
Tracked since 1880
Census
Gust in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 439 people with the first name Gust, which placed it at #22,609 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
#22,609
National first-name rank
People counted
439
439 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gust
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gust is White at 91.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.5%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (2.3%). 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 Gust 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 Gust at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.8% · 403
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 10
- Black or African American1.8% · 8
- Two or more races1.6% · 7
Popularity
Gust: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gust 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 446 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
Gust 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 Gust during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gusts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio recorded the most babies named Gust, while West Virginia, North Dakota, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 43 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gust
The name Gust is derived from the Old Norse word 'gustr', which means 'blast of wind' or 'gust of wind'. It is a name with its origins in Scandinavia, particularly in the Viking era from the 8th to the 11th century. The name was likely used to describe a person who was strong, forceful, or temperamental like a gust of wind.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gust can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, which are prose narratives written in the 13th and 14th centuries. These sagas often featured characters with names that reflected their personalities or physical attributes, and Gust was likely used in a similar manner.
In the Middle Ages, the name Gust gained some popularity in parts of Europe that had been influenced by Norse culture. For example, there are records of individuals named Gust in Germany and the Netherlands during this time period.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Gust. One such person was Gust Avitskog (1890-1967), a Swedish-American artist known for his landscape paintings and portraiture. Another was Gust Håkansson (1905-1980), a Swedish footballer who played as a striker and represented Sweden in the 1934 FIFA World Cup.
In the literary world, Gust Frohman (1856-1930) was a German-American impresario and theatrical producer who helped bring many European plays and actors to the United States in the early 20th century.
Moving to the field of music, Gust Gillholm (1879-1933) was a Swedish composer and conductor who wrote several operas and orchestral works, while Gust Renker (1900-1957) was an American musician and bandleader known for his contributions to the Chicago-style jazz scene.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Gust, which has its roots in Old Norse language and Viking culture, and was likely used to describe someone with a forceful or tempestuous personality.
People
Gust + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gust 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
Gust: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gust?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 351 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gust 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 976,508 US residents.
Is Gust a common name?
We classify Gust as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,871 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gust most popular?
The single biggest year for Gust was 1923, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gust is about 74 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gust in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 439 people with the name Gust, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,609 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 Gust 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 Gust?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gust appears almost entirely male. Of the 439 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Gust?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gust is White at 91.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.5%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (2.3%). 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 Gust most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gust in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.8% (403 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 Gust in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gust a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gust 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 Gust still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gust 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 Gust 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 have Gust as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Gust on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.