Ross
A masculine name of Scottish origin meaning "a promontory or headland".
Name Census estimates that about 58,895 living Americans carry the first name Ross. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Ross today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ross births was 1985 (1,898 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ross. 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 Ross with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Ross is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 422 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Ross have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
59K
~ 1 in 5,820 Americans
Peak year
1985
1,898 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,359
Tracked since 1880
Census
Ross in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 59,347 people with the first name Ross, which placed it at #807 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
#807
National first-name rank
People counted
59K
59,347 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
19.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ross
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ross is White at 88.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.5%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Ross 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 Ross at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.2% · 52,316
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 2,079
- Black or African American3.3% · 1,943
- Two or more races2.6% · 1,516
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 1,110
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 383
Gender
Gender distribution for Ross
Out of the 82,174 babies given the name Ross since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Ross as a male name
- Ranked #1,359 in 2024
- 139 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1985 (1,884 births)
Ross as a female name
- Ranked #17,122 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1986 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ross appears almost entirely male. Of the 59,341 people counted with this name, 99.0% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Ross: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ross from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 15,819 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ross 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 Ross during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ross' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Ross, while Delaware, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,473 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ross
The name Ross is derived from the Gaelic word "ros," which means a promontory or headland. It is believed to have originated in Scotland, where it was used as a place name and later adopted as a personal name.
The name Ross has been in use since at least the 12th century. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is found in the Ragman Rolls of 1296, which lists several individuals with the surname Ross who swore allegiance to King Edward I of England.
In the 16th century, Ross became a popular given name among Scottish families. One notable bearer of the name was Robert Ross (1590-1654), a Scottish minister and author who wrote several religious works.
Throughout history, the name Ross has been associated with various notable figures. One of the most famous was Sir John Ross (1777-1856), a British naval officer and explorer who led several expeditions to the Arctic. Another was Sir James Clark Ross (1800-1862), a British naval officer and explorer who discovered the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
In literature, the name Ross is perhaps most famously associated with the character of Ross Geller from the popular television sitcom "Friends." The character, played by actor David Schwimmer, was a paleontologist and one of the six main characters in the show.
Other notable individuals named Ross include Ross Perot (1930-2019), an American businessman and politician who ran for president in 1992 and 1996, and Ross Brawn (born 1954), a British motorsport engineer and former team principal of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team.
The name Ross has also been used in various works of fiction, including the character of Ross Poldark in the novels of Winston Graham and the subsequent television series of the same name.
People
Ross + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ross 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
Ross: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ross?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 58,895 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ross 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 5,820 US residents.
Is Ross a common name?
We classify Ross as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 82,174 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ross most popular?
The single biggest year for Ross was 1985, when 1,898 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ross is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ross in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 59,347 people with the name Ross, or 19.65 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #807 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 Ross 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 Ross?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ross appears almost entirely male. Of the 59,341 people counted with this name, 99.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Ross?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ross is White at 88.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.5%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Ross most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ross in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.2% (52,316 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 Ross in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ross a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Ross 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 Ross still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ross 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 Ross 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 share the name Ross?
Want to know how many Americans are named Ross? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.