Primus
The Latin name meaning first, foremost, or chief.
Name Census estimates that about 91 living Americans carry the first name Primus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Primus today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Primus births was 1920 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Primus. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Primus. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
91
~ 1 in 3,766,531 Americans
Peak year
1920
10 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,904
Tracked since 1881
Census
Primus in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 202 people with the first name Primus, which placed it at #38,178 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
#38,178
National first-name rank
People counted
202
202 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
74.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Primus
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Primus is Black at 74.8%. The next largest groups are White (9.9%) and Hispanic (6.4%). 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 Primus 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 Primus at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American74.8% · 151
- White9.9% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino6.4% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.0% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 4
- Two or more races2.0% · 4
Popularity
Primus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Primus from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 48 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
Primus 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 Primus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Primus
The name Primus has its origins in Latin, derived from the word "primus" which means "first" or "foremost." It was commonly used in ancient Roman culture to denote the firstborn son or the eldest child in a family.
In early Christian tradition, Primus was the name of several saints and martyrs from the early centuries of the Church. One notable bearer of this name was Saint Primus of Rome, who lived in the 3rd century and suffered martyrdom during the persecutions of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
The name Primus gained popularity in various European regions during the Middle Ages, particularly in areas with strong ties to the Roman Empire and its cultural influences. It was used by several prominent individuals throughout this period, including Primus of Trier, a 6th-century bishop and historian from the Frankish Kingdom.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Primus can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus, who mentioned a Roman soldier named Primus who played a significant role in the Year of the Four Emperors (69 AD).
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Primus. One such figure was Primus Truber (1508-1586), a Slovenian Protestant reformer and author who is considered the founder of the Slovenian literary language. Another was Primus Girault (1836-1898), a French entomologist and naturalist known for his contributions to the study of parasitic wasps.
In the realm of music, Primus was the stage name of the American bassist and vocalist Les Claypool (born 1963), who founded the influential rock band Primus in the late 1980s. The band's unique blend of funk, punk, and experimental rock gained them a cult following and critical acclaim.
Other notable bearers of the name Primus include Primus Everett (1892-1962), an American physician and civil rights activist who played a significant role in the desegregation of hospitals in the United States, and Primus Mullen (1868-1942), an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as a member of the Australian House of Representatives.
People
Primus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Primus 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
Primus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Primus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 91 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Primus 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 3,766,531 US residents.
Is Primus a common name?
We classify Primus as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 194 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Primus most popular?
The single biggest year for Primus was 1920, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Primus is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Primus in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 202 people with the name Primus, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,178 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 Primus 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 Primus?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Primus leans strongly male. 191 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 8 female bearers (4.0%). 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 Primus?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Primus is Black at 74.8%. The next largest groups are White (9.9%) and Hispanic (6.4%). 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 Primus most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Primus in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.8% (151 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 Primus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Primus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Primus 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 Primus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Primus 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 Primus 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 Primus as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.