Sanford
Sandy ford, a compound of the English words "sand" and "ford".
Name Census estimates that about 6,143 living Americans carry the first name Sanford. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sanford today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sanford births was 1929 (315 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sanford. 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
- • The typical person named Sanford is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Sanfords were born before 1969.
People living today
6.1K
~ 1 in 55,796 Americans
Peak year
1929
315 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,159
Tracked since 1880
Census
Sanford in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,581 people with the first name Sanford, which placed it at #3,251 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
#3,251
National first-name rank
People counted
6.6K
6,581 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sanford
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sanford is White at 78.0%. The next largest groups are Black (14.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.0%). 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 Sanford 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 Sanford at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.0% · 5,130
- Black or African American14.3% · 938
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 200
- Two or more races2.0% · 134
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 98
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 81
Popularity
Sanford: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sanford 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 2,694 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
Sanford 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 Sanford during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sanfords live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Sanford, while Vermont, Rhode Island, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 268 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sanford
Sanford is an English given name with origins dating back to the 11th century. It is derived from the Old English words "sand" and "ford," meaning a sandy ford or crossing over a river. The name likely originated in areas of England where there were settlements near sandy river crossings.
The earliest recorded use of the name Sanford dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name appeared in various spellings, such as Samford and Sandforth, indicating its evolution over time.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Sanford was Sanford de Chaloines, who lived in Normandy, France, in the 12th century. He was a knight and landowner who participated in the Third Crusade under King Richard I of England.
In the 13th century, there was a notable English priest named Sanford de Solario, who served as the Archdeacon of Worcester from 1239 to 1256. He was known for his scholarly work and contributions to the church during his lifetime.
During the 16th century, Sir Sanford de Samford was a prominent English nobleman and landowner in Worcestershire. He was knighted by King Henry VIII in 1544 for his military service and loyalty to the crown.
One of the most famous individuals with the name Sanford was Thomas Sanford, an English settler who arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1632. He became a successful merchant and was one of the founders of the town of Milford, Connecticut, in 1639.
Another notable figure was Sanford Ballard Dole, an American politician and jurist who served as the President of the Republic of Hawaii from 1894 to 1900. He played a significant role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and the eventual annexation of the islands by the United States.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Sanford
People
Sanford + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sanford as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sanford: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sanford?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,143 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sanford 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 55,796 US residents.
Is Sanford a common name?
We classify Sanford as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,031 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sanford most popular?
The single biggest year for Sanford was 1929, when 315 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sanford is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sanford in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,581 people with the name Sanford, or 2.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,251 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 Sanford 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 Sanford?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sanford appears almost entirely male. Of the 6,574 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Sanford?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sanford is White at 78.0%. The next largest groups are Black (14.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.0%). 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 Sanford most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sanford in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.0% (5,130 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 Sanford in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sanford a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sanford 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 Sanford still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sanford 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 Sanford 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 Sanford?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Sanford on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.