Parker
An English occupational surname that means "park keeper" or "hunter."
Name Census estimates that about 153,495 living Americans carry the first name Parker. It sits at #97 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 80.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Parker today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Parker births was 2014 (7,125 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Zoe (152,707).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Parker. 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 Parker with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Parker is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
153K
~ 1 in 2,233 Americans
Peak year
2014
7,125 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#97
Tracked since 1880
Census
Parker in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 120,172 people with the first name Parker, which placed it at #466 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
#466
National first-name rank
People counted
120K
120,172 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
39.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Parker
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Parker is White at 85.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.3%) and Hispanic (4.4%). 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 Parker 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 Parker at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.6% · 102,823
- Two or more races5.3% · 6,425
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 5,333
- Black or African American2.8% · 3,374
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 1,542
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 675
Gender
Gender distribution for Parker
Parker leans heavily male at 80.8% of total registrations, but 30,347 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Parker as a male name
- Ranked #97 in 2024
- 3,605 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (5,720 births)
Parker as a female name
- Ranked #104 in 2024
- 2,517 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (2,517 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Parker leans strongly male. 102,009 people counted with this name were male (84.9%), compared with 18,165 female bearers (15.1%).
Popularity
Parker: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Parker from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 62,550 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Parker remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Parker 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 Parker during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Parkers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Parker, while District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,981 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Parker
The name Parker is an English surname that originated as an occupational name for a park-keeper or someone who worked in or looked after a park. It is derived from the Old French word "parc," which comes from the Medieval Latin "parricus," meaning an enclosed area or park.
In the early days, the name Parker would have referred to someone employed to maintain and oversee a deer park or hunting ground, which were common on large estates owned by nobility and royalty. These individuals would have been responsible for tasks such as managing the deer population, maintaining fences, and providing security for the park.
While the name Parker has its roots as a surname, it eventually transitioned into use as a given name as well. One of the earliest recorded examples of Parker as a first name dates back to the late 16th century, with the birth of Parker Woodward in 1585.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Parker as their first name. One of the most famous was Parker J. Palmer, an American author, educator, and activist born in 1939. His writings focused on topics such as education, community, and spirituality.
Another noteworthy individual with the name Parker was Parker Fennelly, an American actor born in 1891 who appeared in numerous films and television shows, including The Twilight Zone and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
In the realm of literature, Parker Tyler was an American film critic and author born in 1904. He was known for his contributions to the study of experimental and avant-garde cinema.
Parker Rossman, born in 1945, was an American psychologist and author who specialized in the field of psychotherapy and personal growth.
Lastly, Parker Posey, born in 1968, is a contemporary American actress known for her roles in independent films and her distinctive on-screen presence.
While the name Parker was initially an occupational surname, it has evolved over time and gained popularity as a given name, particularly in the English-speaking world. Its connection to parks and outdoor spaces has added a unique and natural-inspired quality to the name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Parker
People
Parker + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Parker as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Parker: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Parker?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 153,495 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Parker 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 2,233 US residents.
Is Parker a common name?
We classify Parker as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 157,784 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Parker most popular?
The single biggest year for Parker was 2014, when 7,125 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Parker is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Parker in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 120,172 people with the name Parker, or 39.79 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #466 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 Parker 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 Parker?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Parker leans strongly male. 102,009 people counted with this name were male (84.9%), compared with 18,165 female bearers (15.1%). 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 Parker?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Parker is White at 85.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.3%) and Hispanic (4.4%). 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 Parker most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Parker in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.6% (102,823 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 Parker in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Parker a male name?
Yes, 80.8% of people registered as Parker 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 Parker still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Parker 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 Parker 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 are called Parker?
You can see how many people have the name Parker on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.