Kermit
An English masculine name that possibly refers to a creature.
Name Census estimates that about 6,238 living Americans carry the first name Kermit. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kermit today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kermit births was 1919 (431 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kermit. 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 Kermit is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Kermits were born before 1968.
People living today
6.2K
~ 1 in 54,946 Americans
Peak year
1919
431 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
2022 SSA rank
#5,018
Tracked since 1900
Census
Kermit in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,224 people with the first name Kermit, which placed it at #3,391 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
#3,391
National first-name rank
People counted
6.2K
6,224 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kermit
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kermit is White at 70.5%. The next largest groups are Black (21.9%) and Hispanic (2.9%). 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 Kermit 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 Kermit at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.5% · 4,391
- Black or African American21.9% · 1,363
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 179
- Two or more races2.8% · 173
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 80
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 38
Gender
Gender distribution for Kermit
Out of the 16,467 babies given the name Kermit since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Kermit as a male name
- Ranked #11,632 in 2022
- 6 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1919 (431 births)
Kermit as a female name
- Ranked #5,018 in 1943
- 5 female births in 1943
- Peak: 1920 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kermit appears almost entirely male. Of the 6,232 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Kermit: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kermit from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 3,009 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
Kermit 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 Kermit during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kermits live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. Pennsylvania, North Carolina, West Virginia recorded the most babies named Kermit, while Oregon, Montana, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 353 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kermit
The name Kermit is of English origin and is believed to be derived from the Old English words "cer" meaning "bend" and "mit" meaning "measure." The name was first used as a surname and is thought to refer to a person who measured or surveyed land.
In its earliest recorded use as a given name, Kermit appears in medieval English records from the 13th century. One of the earliest known individuals with the name Kermit was Kermit de Wolricheston, a landowner from Worcestershire, England, who was mentioned in the Feet of Fines records in 1289.
Throughout history, the name Kermit has been relatively uncommon, with few notable bearers. One of the earliest famous individuals with the name was Kermit Roosevelt (1889-1943), the son of former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. He served as a soldier and writer, and accompanied his father on several expeditions, including the famous River of Doubt expedition in Brazil.
Another notable Kermit was Kermit Whitfield (1913-1998), an American jazz saxophonist and bandleader who played with the likes of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. He was known for his smooth and melodic playing style and was a prominent figure in the swing era of jazz music.
In the world of athletics, Kermit Washington (born 1951) was a professional basketball player who played in the NBA for several teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, during the 1970s and 1980s. He was involved in one of the most infamous on-court incidents in NBA history, when he punched and severely injured fellow player Rudy Tomjanovich during a game in 1977.
Another famous Kermit was Kermit Ruffins (born 1964), a New Orleans-based jazz musician and singer. He is known for his energetic live performances and for blending traditional jazz with funk and R&B influences. Ruffins has been a fixture on the New Orleans music scene for decades and has released several acclaimed albums.
While the name Kermit has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it gained widespread recognition in the late 20th century due to the popularity of the Muppet character Kermit the Frog, created by Jim Henson. The charismatic and lovable amphibian has become a cultural icon and has helped to further popularize the name Kermit in modern times.
People
Kermit + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kermit as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kermit: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kermit?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,238 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kermit 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 54,946 US residents.
Is Kermit a common name?
We classify Kermit as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,467 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kermit most popular?
The single biggest year for Kermit was 1919, when 431 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kermit is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kermit in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,224 people with the name Kermit, or 2.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,391 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 Kermit 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 Kermit?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kermit appears almost entirely male. Of the 6,232 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Kermit?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kermit is White at 70.5%. The next largest groups are Black (21.9%) and Hispanic (2.9%). 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 Kermit most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kermit in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.5% (4,391 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 Kermit in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kermit a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Kermit 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 Kermit still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kermit 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 Kermit 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 Kermit?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.