Gwyneth
A feminine Welsh name derived from "gwen" meaning blessed or fair.
Name Census estimates that about 6,035 living Americans carry the first name Gwyneth. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gwyneth today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gwyneth births was 2013 (288 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gwyneth. 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 Gwyneth with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.0K
~ 1 in 56,794 Americans
Peak year
2013
288 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,788
Tracked since 1915
Census
Gwyneth in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,436 people with the first name Gwyneth, which placed it at #3,723 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
#3,723
National first-name rank
People counted
5.4K
5,436 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gwyneth
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gwyneth is White at 79.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.5%). 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 Gwyneth 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 Gwyneth at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.9% · 4,342
- Hispanic or Latino6.7% · 364
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.5% · 297
- Two or more races5.2% · 280
- Black or African American2.5% · 138
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 15
Popularity
Gwyneth: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gwyneth from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,145 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Gwyneth remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gwyneth 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 Gwyneth during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gwyneths live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Gwyneth, while West Virginia, New Mexico, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 117 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gwyneth
The name Gwyneth has its origins in the Welsh language and culture. It is believed to derive from the Welsh words "gwen" meaning fair or blessed, and "gwyneth" meaning happiness or joy. This combination suggests the name Gwyneth conveys a meaning of blessed happiness or fair joy.
The name dates back to at least the Middle Ages in Wales, with records showing variations like Gwenhwyvar and Gwenhwyfar used as early as the 6th century AD. These earlier forms are thought to have eventually evolved into the modern spelling of Gwyneth over time.
One of the earliest known references to the name Gwyneth appears in the medieval Welsh tales known as the Mabinogion, a collection of prose stories from the 12th-13th centuries. In these legends, the character Gwenhwyfar is depicted as a beautiful and noble woman who becomes the wife of King Arthur.
Historically, the name Gwyneth has been borne by several notable figures. One of the earliest was Gwyneth ferch Gruffydd (c. 1188–c. 1237), a Welsh princess who was the daughter of Gruffydd ap Rhys, prince of Deheubarth. Another early bearer was Gwyneth Boudler (c. 1390–c. 1430), an English woman who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Valois.
In more recent times, the name Gwyneth has been carried by several famous individuals, including the acclaimed Welsh actress Gwyneth Tyson (1858–1920), known for her roles in productions of Shakespeare's plays. There is also Gwyneth King (1914–2003), a British writer and academic who authored numerous books on history and philosophy.
Perhaps the most well-known bearer of the name today is Gwyneth Paltrow (born 1972), the American actress, businesswoman, and lifestyle guru. Paltrow has won numerous awards for her film roles, including an Academy Award for Best Actress for Shakespeare in Love in 1998.
People
Gwyneth + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gwyneth 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
Gwyneth: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gwyneth?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,035 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gwyneth 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 56,794 US residents.
Is Gwyneth a common name?
We classify Gwyneth as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,542 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gwyneth most popular?
The single biggest year for Gwyneth was 2013, when 288 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gwyneth is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gwyneth in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,436 people with the name Gwyneth, or 1.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,723 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 Gwyneth 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 Gwyneth?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gwyneth appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,435 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Gwyneth?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gwyneth is White at 79.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.5%). 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 Gwyneth most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gwyneth in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.9% (4,342 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 Gwyneth in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gwyneth a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gwyneth 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 Gwyneth still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gwyneth 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 Gwyneth 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 Gwyneth?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.