Norris
Derived from the Old English "norþ rís" meaning "northerner" or "from the north".
Name Census estimates that about 8,091 living Americans carry the first name Norris. It is a predominantly male name (96.9% of registrations). The average person named Norris today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Norris births was 1924 (323 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Norris. 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 Norris with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Norris is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 523 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
8.1K
~ 1 in 42,362 Americans
Peak year
1924
323 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,360
Tracked since 1880
Census
Norris in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,572 people with the first name Norris, which placed it at #2,967 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
#2,967
National first-name rank
People counted
7.6K
7,572 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
50.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Norris
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Norris is Black at 50.6%. The next largest groups are White (42.1%) and Two or More Races (2.4%). 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 Norris 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 Norris at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American50.6% · 3,830
- White42.1% · 3,188
- Two or more races2.4% · 181
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 166
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 156
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 51
Gender
Gender distribution for Norris
Norris leans heavily male at 96.9% of total registrations, but 523 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Norris as a male name
- Ranked #6,360 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1924 (308 births)
Norris as a female name
- Ranked #11,922 in 1985
- 5 female births in 1985
- Peak: 1933 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Norris leans strongly male. 7,302 people counted with this name were male (96.3%), compared with 279 female bearers (3.7%).
Popularity
Norris: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Norris 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 2,709 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
Norris 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 Norris during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Norris' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. Texas, Louisiana, Georgia recorded the most babies named Norris, while Colorado, South Dakota, Oregon recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 304 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Norris
The name Norris has its origins in the Norman French language and culture, originating in the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old French word "norreis," which means "Norse" or "Northman." This suggests that the name was likely given to individuals with Scandinavian ancestry or those who hailed from the northern regions of France.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Norris can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This historical document mentions several individuals bearing the name, indicating its use in the late 11th century.
The name Norris has been associated with various notable figures throughout history. One such individual was Sir John Norreys (1547-1597), an English military commander who served under Queen Elizabeth I during the Anglo-Spanish War. He played a significant role in the English campaigns against the Spanish in the Netherlands and Ireland.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Robert Norris (1491-1535), an English diplomat and courtier who served as a member of the Privy Council under King Henry VIII. He was also involved in the dissolution of the monasteries, which marked a crucial period in the English Reformation.
In the realm of literature, Frank Norris (1870-1902) was an American novelist and journalist who was a leading figure in the Naturalist movement. His notable works include "McTeague" and "The Octopus," which explored themes of determinism and the influence of environment on human behavior.
Moving to the field of sports, Chuck Norris (born 1940) is a renowned American martial artist, actor, and producer. He rose to fame through his roles in action films such as "Way of the Dragon" and the "Missing in Action" series, becoming a cultural icon and the subject of numerous internet memes.
Lastly, Lancelot "Capability" Brown (1716-1783) was an English landscape architect whose work had a significant impact on the English garden style. He was known for his naturalistic and sweeping landscape designs, earning him the nickname "Capability" due to his ability to identify the potential of a landscape.
People
Norris + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Norris 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
Norris: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Norris?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,091 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Norris 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 42,362 US residents.
Is Norris a common name?
We classify Norris as "Rare". It ranks above 97.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,964 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Norris most popular?
The single biggest year for Norris was 1924, when 323 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Norris is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Norris in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,572 people with the name Norris, or 2.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,967 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 Norris 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 Norris?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Norris leans strongly male. 7,302 people counted with this name were male (96.3%), compared with 279 female bearers (3.7%). 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 Norris?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Norris is Black at 50.6%. The next largest groups are White (42.1%) and Two or More Races (2.4%). 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 Norris most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Norris in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.6% (3,830 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 Norris in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Norris a male name?
Yes, 96.9% of people registered as Norris 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 Norris still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Norris 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 Norris 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 Norris as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Norris, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.