Memphis
A baby boy's name of Egyptian origin meaning "enduring and beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 11,963 living Americans carry the first name Memphis. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 80.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Memphis today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Memphis births was 2021 (986 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Memphis. 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 Memphis with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Memphis is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 28,651 Americans
Peak year
2021
986 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#588
Tracked since 1915
Census
Memphis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,951 people with the first name Memphis, which placed it at #3,143 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
#3,143
National first-name rank
People counted
7.0K
6,951 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Memphis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Memphis is White at 73.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.9%) and Two or More Races (7.7%). 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 Memphis 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 Memphis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.3% · 5,094
- Hispanic or Latino9.9% · 690
- Two or more races7.7% · 532
- Black or African American5.7% · 393
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 176
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 66
Gender
Gender distribution for Memphis
Memphis leans heavily male at 80.2% of total registrations, but 2,404 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Memphis as a male name
- Ranked #588 in 2024
- 484 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (768 births)
Memphis as a female name
- Ranked #1,599 in 2024
- 131 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (251 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Memphis leans strongly male. 5,644 people counted with this name were male (81.2%), compared with 1,311 female bearers (18.8%).
Popularity
Memphis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Memphis 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 5,447 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Memphis remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Memphis 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 Memphis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Memphis' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Memphis, while Maine, Delaware, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 226 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Memphis
The name Memphis is an English name derived from the ancient Egyptian city of the same name. It traces its origins back to the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt, around 2686-2181 BC. The city's name is believed to come from the ancient Egyptian words "mn-nfr" which translates to "enduring and beautiful".
Memphis was one of the oldest and most important cities in ancient Egypt, serving as the capital during the Old Kingdom. It was a center of worship for the god Ptah and was renowned for its impressive temples and monuments. The city's name appears frequently in ancient Egyptian texts and records.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Memphis being used as a personal name dates back to the 19th century. Memphis Minnie, an influential American blues singer and guitarist, was born Lizzie Douglas in 1897. She acquired the nickname "Memphis Minnie" due to her association with the city of Memphis, Tennessee.
Another notable historical figure with the name Memphis was Memphis Slim, an American blues pianist and singer born John Len Chatman in 1915. He was a prominent figure in the Chicago blues scene and helped popularize the use of the name Memphis.
In literature, the name Memphis appears in the works of ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who wrote about the city and its significance in ancient Egypt. The name was also mentioned in the Bible, particularly in the Book of Isaiah, where it is referred to as "Noph".
Other historical figures with the name Memphis include Memphis Raines, an American outlaw and train robber in the late 19th century, and Memphis McKenzie, an American baseball player who played in the Negro Leagues in the 1920s and 1930s.
While the name Memphis has its roots in ancient Egyptian culture, it has gained popularity as a given name in more recent times, particularly in English-speaking countries. However, its use as a personal name can be traced back centuries, with notable individuals bearing the name throughout history.
People
Memphis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Memphis 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
Memphis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Memphis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,963 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Memphis 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 28,651 US residents.
Is Memphis a common name?
We classify Memphis as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,144 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Memphis most popular?
The single biggest year for Memphis was 2021, when 986 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Memphis is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Memphis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,951 people with the name Memphis, or 2.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,143 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 Memphis 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 Memphis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Memphis leans strongly male. 5,644 people counted with this name were male (81.2%), compared with 1,311 female bearers (18.8%). 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 Memphis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Memphis is White at 73.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.9%) and Two or More Races (7.7%). 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 Memphis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Memphis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.3% (5,094 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 Memphis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Memphis a male name?
Yes, 80.2% of people registered as Memphis 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 Memphis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Memphis 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 Memphis 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 Americans are named Memphis?
Want to know how many people have the name Memphis? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.