Queen
A feminine name derived from the English word meaning "female ruler or sovereign".
Name Census estimates that about 7,166 living Americans carry the first name Queen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Queen today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Queen births was 2018 (282 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Queen. 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 Queen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.2K
~ 1 in 47,831 Americans
Peak year
2018
282 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
1949 SSA rank
#1,986
Tracked since 1880
Census
Queen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,505 people with the first name Queen, which placed it at #2,989 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
#2,989
National first-name rank
People counted
7.5K
7,505 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
84.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Queen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Queen is Black at 84.4%. The next largest groups are White (5.2%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Queen 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 Queen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American84.4% · 6,332
- White5.2% · 391
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 301
- Two or more races3.4% · 254
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 195
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 32
Gender
Gender distribution for Queen
Out of the 16,038 babies given the name Queen since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Queen as a male name
- Ranked #4,088 in 1949
- 5 male births in 1949
- Peak: 1935 (9 births)
Queen as a female name
- Ranked #1,986 in 2024
- 99 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (282 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Queen appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,504 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Queen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Queen 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 2,444 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Queen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Queen 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 Queen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Queens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia recorded the most babies named Queen, while Washington, Minnesota, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 406 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Queen
The given name Queen has its origins in English, derived from the word "queen" which itself traces back to the Old English "cwen". This word is of Germanic origin, related to the Old Norse "kvan" and the Gothic "qens". The root likely meant "woman" or "wife" in Proto-Germanic.
The name Queen gained popularity in the Middle Ages, particularly after the rise of powerful female rulers in England and other European monarchies. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (c. 1122-1204), one of the most influential figures of the High Middle Ages.
In the 16th century, the name became closely associated with Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), the last Tudor monarch of England and one of the most celebrated rulers in British history. Her reign ushered in a golden age of literature, exploration, and cultural achievements.
Another notable bearer of the name was Queen Anne (1665-1714), the last monarch of the House of Stuart, whose reign saw the Acts of Union in 1707 that united the kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain.
Moving into the 19th century, Queen Victoria (1819-1901) stands out as one of the most famous bearers of the name. Her reign as Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India spanned over six decades, a period known as the Victorian era, which saw the British Empire reach its greatest territorial extent.
In the realm of literature, one cannot overlook Queen Mab, a fairy queen character mentioned in several works by William Shakespeare and other writers of the Renaissance era. Her name became a popular literary reference and has been used as a title for various creative works over the centuries.
While the name Queen has been used primarily in the context of royalty and nobility, it has also been adopted as a given name in its own right, particularly in English-speaking countries. Its regal connotations and associations with power and authority have made it a distinctive and evocative choice for many parents throughout history.
People
Queen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Queen as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Q
Other first names starting with Q with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Queen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Queen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,166 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Queen 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 47,831 US residents.
Is Queen a common name?
We classify Queen as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,038 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Queen most popular?
The single biggest year for Queen was 2018, when 282 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Queen is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Queen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,505 people with the name Queen, or 2.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,989 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 Queen 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 Queen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Queen appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,504 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Queen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Queen is Black at 84.4%. The next largest groups are White (5.2%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Queen most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Queen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.4% (6,332 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 Queen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Queen a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Queen in the SSA data are female. 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 Queen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Queen 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 Queen 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 Queen?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.