Parrish
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "parish" or "parish priest".
Name Census estimates that about 2,963 living Americans carry the first name Parrish. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Parrish today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Parrish births was 1966 (134 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Parrish. 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.
People living today
3.0K
~ 1 in 115,678 Americans
Peak year
1966
134 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,137
Tracked since 1943
Census
Parrish in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,345 people with the first name Parrish, which placed it at #6,745 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
#6,745
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,345 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
46.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Parrish
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Parrish is Black at 46.9%. The next largest groups are White (41.4%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Parrish 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 Parrish at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American46.9% · 1,099
- White41.4% · 970
- Two or more races5.5% · 128
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 107
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 18
Gender
Gender distribution for Parrish
Parrish leans heavily male at 84.9% of total registrations, but 478 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Parrish as a male name
- Ranked #8,137 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1966 (124 births)
Parrish as a female name
- Ranked #14,866 in 2022
- 6 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1992 (26 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Parrish leans strongly male. 1,930 people counted with this name were male (82.4%), compared with 413 female bearers (17.6%).
Popularity
Parrish: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Parrish from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 870 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Parrish 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 Parrish during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Parrishs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Illinois, New York, California recorded the most babies named Parrish, while Massachusetts, Tennessee, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 55 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Parrish
The name Parrish is believed to have its origins in the Old French language, derived from the word "paroisse," which means "parish" or "church district." This suggests that the name may have initially been used to refer to someone who lived near or worked in a parish or church.
In the early Middle Ages, the name Parrish likely emerged as a surname or family name, indicating a person's association with a particular parish or church community. As surnames became more common, the name Parrish gradually transitioned into a given name, particularly in English-speaking regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Parrish can be found in the Domesday Book, a remarkable survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The Domesday Book mentions several individuals with the surname "Parrich" or similar spellings, indicating the name's presence in England during the 11th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Parrish. One of the earliest was Parrish of Wittington, an English landowner and nobleman who lived in the 13th century. Another early bearer of the name was Parrish de Bourne, a 14th-century English clergyman and scholar.
In the 16th century, Parrish Gresham (1512-1579) was an influential English merchant and financier who played a crucial role in establishing the Royal Exchange in London. His contributions to the city's economic and financial development were significant.
During the American Revolutionary War, Parrish Perkins (1752-1825) served as a lieutenant in the Continental Army and fought bravely in several battles against the British forces.
In the 19th century, Parrish Maxfield (1870-1966) was a renowned American illustrator and painter, best known for his idyllic depictions of childhood and his contributions to the Golden Age of Illustration.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Parrish, highlighting its longevity and presence across various cultures and time periods.
People
Parrish + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Parrish 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
Parrish: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Parrish?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,963 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Parrish 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 115,678 US residents.
Is Parrish a common name?
We classify Parrish as "Rare". It ranks above 95.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,175 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Parrish most popular?
The single biggest year for Parrish was 1966, when 134 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Parrish is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Parrish in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,345 people with the name Parrish, or 0.78 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,745 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 Parrish 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 Parrish?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Parrish leans strongly male. 1,930 people counted with this name were male (82.4%), compared with 413 female bearers (17.6%). 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 Parrish?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Parrish is Black at 46.9%. The next largest groups are White (41.4%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Parrish most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Parrish in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.9% (1,099 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 Parrish in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Parrish a male name?
Yes, 84.9% of people registered as Parrish 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 Parrish still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Parrish 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 Parrish 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 Parrish?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Parrish, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.