Legend
A given name referring to something remarkable or extraordinary enough to inspire myths or stories.
Name Census estimates that about 24,679 living Americans carry the first name Legend. It sits at #157 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (96.2% of registrations). The average person named Legend today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Legend births was 2021 (3,239 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Legend. 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 Legend with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Legend is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 947 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Legend is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 7 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
25K
~ 1 in 13,889 Americans
Peak year
2021
3,239 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#157
Tracked since 1993
Census
Legend in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,455 people with the first name Legend, which placed it at #2,759 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
#2,759
National first-name rank
People counted
8.5K
8,455 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
53.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Legend
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Legend is Black at 53.7%. The next largest groups are White (16.8%) and Hispanic (14.3%). 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 Legend 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 Legend at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American53.7% · 4,540
- White16.8% · 1,422
- Hispanic or Latino14.3% · 1,212
- Two or more races11.8% · 998
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 173
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 110
Gender
Gender distribution for Legend
Legend leans heavily male at 96.2% of total registrations, but 947 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Legend as a male name
- Ranked #157 in 2024
- 2,275 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (3,182 births)
Legend as a female name
- Ranked #4,326 in 2024
- 33 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (80 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Legend leans strongly male. 7,923 people counted with this name were male (93.8%), compared with 525 female bearers (6.2%).
Popularity
Legend: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Legend from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 13,976 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Legend 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 Legend during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Legends live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. Texas, Florida, California recorded the most babies named Legend, while Montana, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 483 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Legend
The given name Legend is a relatively modern English word that has been adopted as a name in recent decades. Its origins can be traced back to the late 16th century, derived from the Latin word "legenda," meaning "a narrative of a life." Originally, the term referred to stories about the lives of saints or religious figures that were intended to be read aloud or studied.
As the English language evolved, the word "legend" took on a more general meaning, referring to a traditional story, often about heroic individuals or events. It became associated with tales of bravery, adventure, and extraordinary accomplishments, passed down through generations.
The earliest recorded examples of Legend as a given name appear in the late 20th century, likely reflecting a desire to imbue a child with a sense of greatness, ambition, and the potential for legendary achievements. While not common in historical records, the name gained popularity in recent decades, particularly in certain cultural or ethnic communities.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the first name Legend is Legend Bowry, a Canadian actor born in 1984. He has appeared in various television shows and movies, including the film "The Tuxedo" alongside Jackie Chan.
Another individual with the name is Legend Wilkerson, an American football player born in 1992. He played as a defensive back for the University of Tennessee and was signed by the Seattle Seahawks in the National Football League (NFL).
In the music industry, Legend Siam is a Thai rapper and songwriter born in 1990. He has gained popularity in the Thai hip-hop scene and has released several successful albums and singles.
Legend Ngoepe, born in 1990, is a South African baseball player who made history as the first player from Africa to reach Major League Baseball (MLB) when he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2017.
Lastly, Legend Tafa, born in 1995, is a Zimbabwean professional footballer who plays as a striker for Dynamos F.C. in the Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League.
While the name Legend may not have a long historical lineage, its modern usage reflects a desire to celebrate and aspire to greatness, with parents bestowing their children with a name that carries the promise of a legendary future.
People
Legend + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Legend as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Legend: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Legend?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 24,679 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Legend 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 13,889 US residents.
Is Legend a common name?
We classify Legend as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 24,856 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Legend most popular?
The single biggest year for Legend was 2021, when 3,239 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Legend is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Legend in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,455 people with the name Legend, or 2.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,759 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 Legend 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 Legend?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Legend leans strongly male. 7,923 people counted with this name were male (93.8%), compared with 525 female bearers (6.2%). 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 Legend?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Legend is Black at 53.7%. The next largest groups are White (16.8%) and Hispanic (14.3%). 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 Legend most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Legend in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.7% (4,540 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 Legend in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Legend a male name?
Yes, 96.2% of people registered as Legend 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 Legend still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Legend 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 Legend 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 are called Legend?
You can see how many people share the name Legend on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.