Randy
A masculine name of English origin referring to a "randy" or lustful person.
Name Census estimates that about 278,910 living Americans carry the first name Randy. It is a predominantly male name (98.5% of registrations). The average person named Randy today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Randy births was 1956 (16,740 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Randy. 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 Randy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Randy is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 5,005 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Randy have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
279K
~ 1 in 1,229 Americans
Peak year
1956
16,740 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,019
Tracked since 1915
Census
Randy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 250,617 people with the first name Randy, which placed it at #218 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
#218
National first-name rank
People counted
251K
250,617 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
83.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Randy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Randy is White at 78.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.0%) and Black (7.5%). 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 Randy 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 Randy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.6% · 196,941
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 19,994
- Black or African American7.5% · 18,775
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 6,271
- Two or more races2.5% · 6,213
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 2,423
Gender
Gender distribution for Randy
Randy leans heavily male at 98.5% of total registrations, but 5,005 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Randy as a male name
- Ranked #1,019 in 2024
- 218 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1956 (16,547 births)
Randy as a female name
- Ranked #14,766 in 2023
- 6 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1952 (239 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Randy leans strongly male. 246,887 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 3,732 female bearers (1.5%).
Popularity
Randy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Randy from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 122,472 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Randy 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 Randy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Randys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Randy, while Delaware, Alaska, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6,468 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Randy
The name Randy is a diminutive form of the male given name Randolph, which is of Old English origin. It is derived from the elements "rand" meaning "rim" or "border" and "wulf" meaning "wolf." The name Randolph was originally a surname derived from place names in England, such as Randolph in Norfolk.
The name Randy emerged as a standalone given name in the 19th century, becoming popular in the United States and other English-speaking countries. It gained widespread use in the 20th century, particularly in the mid-20th century when it was a fashionable name for boys born in the 1940s and 1950s.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Randy being used as a given name dates back to the late 18th century. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Randy Reid, an American soldier who fought in the Revolutionary War and was born around 1760.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the first name Randy. One prominent figure was Randy Shilts (1951-1994), an American journalist and author who was one of the first to report on the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. His book "And the Band Played On" was a groundbreaking work that chronicled the early years of the crisis.
Another well-known Randy was Randy Newman (born 1943), an American singer-songwriter, composer, and pianist. He is known for his satirical and often humorous songs, as well as his film scores, including those for Pixar movies like "Toy Story" and "Monsters, Inc."
In the world of sports, Randy Moss (born 1977) was a former American football wide receiver who played in the NFL for teams like the Minnesota Vikings and the New England Patriots. He was a four-time First-team All-Pro and is considered one of the greatest wide receivers in NFL history.
Randy Johnson (born 1963) was a dominant left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball, playing for teams such as the Seattle Mariners and the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was a five-time Cy Young Award winner and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015.
Finally, Randy Travis (born 1959) is an American country music singer and actor who rose to fame in the 1980s and 1990s. He has won numerous awards, including six Grammy Awards, and has sold over 25 million records worldwide.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Randy
People
Randy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Randy as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Randy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Randy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 278,910 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Randy 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 1,229 US residents.
Is Randy a common name?
We classify Randy as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 334,271 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Randy most popular?
The single biggest year for Randy was 1956, when 16,740 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Randy is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Randy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 250,617 people with the name Randy, or 82.98 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #218 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 Randy 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 Randy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Randy leans strongly male. 246,887 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 3,732 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Randy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Randy is White at 78.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.0%) and Black (7.5%). 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 Randy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Randy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.6% (196,941 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 Randy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Randy a male name?
Yes, 98.5% of people registered as Randy 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 Randy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Randy 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 Randy 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 common is the name Randy?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.