Meadow
Open grassy land typically used for hay or grazing.
Name Census estimates that about 11,139 living Americans carry the first name Meadow. It sits at #327 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Meadow today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meadow births was 2024 (946 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meadow. 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 Meadow with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Meadow is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 30,771 Americans
Peak year
2024
946 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2023 SSA rank
#327
Tracked since 1914
Census
Meadow in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,746 people with the first name Meadow, which placed it at #3,198 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
#3,198
National first-name rank
People counted
6.7K
6,746 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Meadow
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meadow is White at 75.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.7%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Meadow 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 Meadow at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.8% · 5,112
- Hispanic or Latino10.7% · 724
- Two or more races7.4% · 501
- Black or African American3.2% · 213
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 120
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 76
Gender
Gender distribution for Meadow
Out of the 11,267 babies given the name Meadow since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Meadow as a male name
- Ranked #11,759 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2022 (6 births)
Meadow as a female name
- Ranked #327 in 2024
- 946 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (946 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meadow appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,750 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Meadow: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meadow from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,977 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
Meadow 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 Meadow during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meadows live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Meadow, while Rhode Island, Delaware, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 207 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Meadow
The name Meadow is derived from the Old English word "mædwe," which means a grassy, open area of land, typically used for pasture. It is believed to have originated in the Anglo-Saxon period, around the 5th to 11th centuries AD, when the English language was in its early stages of development.
The name Meadow is closely associated with nature and the outdoors, evoking images of lush, green fields and the beauty of the natural world. It has been used as a given name since the Middle Ages, although its popularity has fluctuated over time.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Meadow can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this historical record, there is a mention of a woman named "Medewe" who lived in the county of Lincolnshire, England.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Meadow. For instance, Meadow Soprano (born 1975) is a fictional character from the popular HBO television series "The Sopranos," played by actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler. Additionally, Meadow Williams (born 1991) is an American actress known for her roles in various television shows and films.
Another famous bearer of the name was Meadow Sisto (1799-1856), an American author and educator who wrote several books on women's education and social reform. Her works were influential in advocating for improved educational opportunities for women during the 19th century.
In the realm of sports, Meadow Lemon (1932-2015) was a renowned basketball player and comedian, best known for his involvement with the Harlem Globetrotters. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003, in recognition of his contributions to the game and his entertaining showmanship.
Furthermore, Meadow Merrill (1861-1926) was an American nurse and philanthropist who established several nursing schools and hospitals in the United States and Canada. Her dedication to improving healthcare and nursing education left a lasting impact on the medical field.
People
Meadow + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meadow as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Meadow: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meadow?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,139 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meadow 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 30,771 US residents.
Is Meadow a common name?
We classify Meadow as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,267 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meadow most popular?
The single biggest year for Meadow was 2024, when 946 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meadow is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Meadow in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,746 people with the name Meadow, or 2.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,198 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 Meadow 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 Meadow?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meadow appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,750 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Meadow?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meadow is White at 75.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.7%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Meadow most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Meadow in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.8% (5,112 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 Meadow in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Meadow a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Meadow 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 Meadow still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Meadow 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 Meadow 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 Meadow as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Meadow, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.