London
Capital city of England and the United Kingdom, derived from the Roman name Londinium.
Name Census estimates that about 53,036 living Americans carry the first name London. It sits at #355 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.1% of registrations being female. The average person named London today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of London births was 2013 (3,879 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for London. 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 London with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • London started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • London is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
53K
~ 1 in 6,463 Americans
Peak year
2013
3,879 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#355
Tracked since 1886
Census
London in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 40,129 people with the first name London, which placed it at #1,044 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
#1,044
National first-name rank
People counted
40K
40,129 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
13.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for London
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named London is Black at 48.1%. The next largest groups are White (32.1%) and Hispanic (9.8%). 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 London 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 London at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.1% · 19,289
- White32.1% · 12,862
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 3,950
- Two or more races8.4% · 3,361
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 483
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 184
Gender
Gender distribution for London
London leans heavily female at 81.1% of total registrations, but 10,178 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
London as a male name
- Ranked #1,209 in 2024
- 167 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (520 births)
London as a female name
- Ranked #355 in 2024
- 872 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (3,462 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, London leans strongly female. 32,506 people counted with this name were female (81.0%), compared with 7,620 male bearers (19.0%).
Popularity
London: popularity over time
The SSA tracks London from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 30,541 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
London 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 London during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Londons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named London, while Wyoming, North Dakota, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 994 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of London
The given name London is an English name derived from the city of London in England. It is believed to have originated from the Roman name "Londinium," which was the name given to the settlement established on the River Thames in the 1st century AD.
The name "Londinium" is thought to be derived from the Celtic word "Londinion," which means "the place belonging to the bold one." This suggests that the name may have been inspired by a person or a tribe that inhabited the area before the Roman conquest.
The earliest recorded use of the name London as a given name dates back to the late 16th century. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was London Fletcher, who was born in 1580 in Gloucestershire, England.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name London. One of the most famous was London Wits, an English satirist and playwright who lived from 1615 to 1685. He was known for his satirical plays and poems that critiqued the social and political climate of his time.
Another notable individual with the name London was London Ferrill, an American soldier who fought in the American Revolutionary War. He was born in 1755 and served as a private in the Continental Army.
In the 19th century, London Brown was a prominent American educator and activist who worked to establish schools for African American children in the post-Civil War era. He was born in 1841 and played a significant role in the advancement of education for marginalized communities.
One of the more recent notable individuals with the name London was London Witte, an American artist and illustrator who lived from 1916 to 2001. He was known for his illustrations in children's books and his work for various magazines and publications.
While the name London is relatively uncommon as a given name, it has a rich history that can be traced back to the ancient Roman settlement on the River Thames. Its meaning and origins reflect the boldness and resilience of the people who inhabited the area, and it has been borne by individuals who have made significant contributions throughout history.
Notable bearers
Famous people named London
People
London + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with London 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
London: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named London?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 53,036 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for London 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 6,463 US residents.
Is London a common name?
We classify London as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 53,894 babies have been registered with this name.
When was London most popular?
The single biggest year for London was 2013, when 3,879 babies received the name. The fact that the average living London is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was London in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 40,129 people with the name London, or 13.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,044 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 London 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 London?
In the 2020 Census sex table, London leans strongly female. 32,506 people counted with this name were female (81.0%), compared with 7,620 male bearers (19.0%). 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 London?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named London is Black at 48.1%. The next largest groups are White (32.1%) and Hispanic (9.8%). 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 London most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named London in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.1% (19,289 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 London in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is London a female name?
Yes, 81.1% of people registered as London 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 London still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded London 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 London 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 common is the name London?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.