Norbert
A German masculine name meaning "bright nobleman" or "bright warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 6,116 living Americans carry the first name Norbert. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Norbert today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Norbert births was 1924 (635 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Norbert. 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 Norbert with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Norbert is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Norberts were born before 1967.
People living today
6.1K
~ 1 in 56,042 Americans
Peak year
1924
635 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,441
Tracked since 1885
Census
Norbert in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,704 people with the first name Norbert, which placed it at #2,699 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
#2,699
National first-name rank
People counted
8.7K
8,704 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Norbert
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Norbert is White at 79.7%. The next largest groups are Black (7.6%) and Hispanic (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 Norbert 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 Norbert at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.7% · 6,938
- Black or African American7.6% · 661
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 642
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 251
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 113
- Two or more races1.1% · 99
Gender
Gender distribution for Norbert
Out of the 20,383 babies given the name Norbert since 1880, 100.0% 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.
Norbert as a male name
- Ranked #6,359 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1924 (635 births)
Norbert as a female name
- Ranked #4,441 in 1929
- 6 female births in 1929
- Peak: 1929 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Norbert appears almost entirely male. Of the 8,699 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Norbert: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Norbert from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 5,939 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
Norbert 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 Norbert during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Norberts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. Wisconsin, Illinois, New York recorded the most babies named Norbert, while Vermont, North Carolina, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 500 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Norbert
The name Norbert has its origins in the Germanic languages, derived from the words "nord" meaning "north" and "berht" meaning "bright" or "famous." It emerged during the early Middle Ages, around the 6th to 8th centuries, and was initially prevalent in areas such as modern-day Germany, France, and the Low Countries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Norbert can be found in the life of Saint Norbert, a 12th-century founder of the Premonstratensian order of reformed Augustinian canons. Born around 1080 in Xanten, Germany, he played a significant role in the ecclesiastical and monastic reforms of his time.
Another notable figure bearing the name Norbert was Norbert of Xanten, a 12th-century chronicler and author who wrote the "Life of St. Norbert." His account provides valuable insights into the life and deeds of the aforementioned saint, serving as an important historical record.
In the 13th century, there was Norbert of Avesnes, a French nobleman who served as the Count of Avesnes and Hainaut from 1246 until his death in 1262. He was a prominent figure in the political affairs of the region during his time.
The name Norbert also gained recognition in literary circles through Norbert Wiener, an American mathematician and philosopher who lived from 1894 to 1964. He is best known for his contributions to the field of cybernetics and his groundbreaking work on the mathematical foundations of information theory.
Norbert Elias, a German sociologist born in 1897 and who passed away in 1990, is another prominent figure associated with the name. He is renowned for his influential theories on the "civilizing process" and the development of modern societies.
These are just a few examples of the historical figures who have borne the name Norbert, showcasing its enduring legacy across various fields and time periods.
People
Norbert + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Norbert as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Norbert: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Norbert?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,116 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Norbert 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 56,042 US residents.
Is Norbert a common name?
We classify Norbert as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 20,383 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Norbert most popular?
The single biggest year for Norbert was 1924, when 635 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Norbert is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Norbert in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,704 people with the name Norbert, or 2.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,699 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 Norbert 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 Norbert?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Norbert appears almost entirely male. Of the 8,699 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Norbert?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Norbert is White at 79.7%. The next largest groups are Black (7.6%) and Hispanic (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 Norbert most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Norbert in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.7% (6,938 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 Norbert in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Norbert a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Norbert 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 Norbert still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Norbert 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 Norbert 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 the name Norbert?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.