Polo
A masculine name derived from the Italian city of Venice.
Name Census estimates that about 495 living Americans carry the first name Polo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Polo today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Polo births was 2001 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Polo. 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
495
~ 1 in 692,433 Americans
Peak year
2001
21 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,144
Tracked since 1917
Census
Polo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 960 people with the first name Polo, which placed it at #12,808 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
#12,808
National first-name rank
People counted
960
960 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
77.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Polo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Polo is Hispanic at 77.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.6%) and Black (7.3%). 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 Polo 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 Polo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino77.0% · 739
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.6% · 73
- Black or African American7.3% · 70
- White6.5% · 62
- Two or more races1.1% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 5
Popularity
Polo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Polo from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 121 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Polo remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Polo 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 Polo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Polos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Polo
The given name Polo is believed to have originated from the Italian language, derived from the Latin word "paulus," meaning "small" or "little." The name gained prominence during the medieval period, particularly in Italy and other parts of Europe.
One of the earliest and most famous historical references to the name Polo is associated with the Venetian merchant and explorer Marco Polo, who lived from 1254 to 1324. Marco Polo's travels to Asia and his detailed accounts of his journeys through the Silk Road and the Mongol Empire brought the name to wider recognition.
Another notable figure bearing the name Polo was Marco Polo's uncle, also named Marco Polo, who accompanied his nephew on the famous travels to China and other parts of Asia in the 13th century. This older Marco Polo, born around 1235, played a crucial role in facilitating his nephew's expeditions and contributing to the family's legacy as merchants and explorers.
In the realm of literature, Polo is the name of a character in William Shakespeare's play "The Merchant of Venice," which was written around 1598. While the character's full name is not explicitly mentioned, he is referred to as Polo, and his presence in one of Shakespeare's most celebrated works further solidified the name's recognition.
During the Renaissance period, Polo became a relatively common name among Italian families, particularly in Venice and other northern Italian regions. One notable figure from this era was the Italian sculptor Polo Calvi, who lived from around 1530 to 1584 and is known for his works in marble and bronze.
In the 19th century, the name Polo gained popularity in Latin American countries, particularly in Brazil. One prominent Brazilian figure with the name was Polo Renato de Araújo Marques, a politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil from 1856 to 1857.
Throughout history, the name Polo has been associated with exploration, adventure, and artistic expression, reflecting its origins and the legacy of its most famous bearers. While not as widely used as in the past, the name continues to carry a sense of cultural significance and historical resonance.
People
Polo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Polo 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
Polo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Polo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 495 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Polo 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 692,433 US residents.
Is Polo a common name?
We classify Polo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 589 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Polo most popular?
The single biggest year for Polo was 2001, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Polo is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Polo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 960 people with the name Polo, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,808 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 Polo 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 Polo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Polo leans strongly male. 929 people counted with this name were male (96.7%), compared with 32 female bearers (3.3%). 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 Polo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Polo is Hispanic at 77.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.6%) and Black (7.3%). 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 Polo most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Polo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.0% (739 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 Polo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Polo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Polo 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 Polo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Polo 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 Polo 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 Polo?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.