Secret
An adjective indicating something concealed or kept from knowledge or view.
Name Census estimates that about 723 living Americans carry the first name Secret. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Secret today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Secret births was 2006 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Secret. 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.
People living today
723
~ 1 in 474,072 Americans
Peak year
2006
35 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,199
Tracked since 1967
Census
Secret in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 586 people with the first name Secret, which placed it at #18,401 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
#18,401
National first-name rank
People counted
586
586 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Secret
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Secret is Black at 48.3%. The next largest groups are White (30.4%) and Hispanic (9.6%). 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 Secret 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 Secret at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.3% · 283
- White30.4% · 178
- Hispanic or Latino9.6% · 56
- Two or more races8.0% · 47
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 10
Popularity
Secret: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Secret from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 216 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Secret remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Secret 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 Secret during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Secrets live
Origin
Meaning and history of Secret
The name Secret is a relatively modern one, having emerged in the late 20th century as a unique and unconventional choice for a given name. It does not have a specific linguistic or cultural origin, but rather seems to have been inspired by the English word "secret," which comes from the Latin "secretus," meaning "separate" or "hidden."
Despite its recent origins, the name Secret has gained some notable bearers over the past few decades. One of the earliest known individuals with this name is Secret Devernay, a French actress born in 1979. Another is Secret Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American author and entrepreneur born in 1981.
In the realm of sports, Secret Totten is an American professional basketball player who was born in 1990. Secret Mayes, born in 1992, is a former American soccer player who competed in the National Women's Soccer League.
Perhaps one of the most famous people with the name Secret is Secret Esfahanipour, an Iranian-American actress and model born in 1988. She has appeared in various television shows and films, including a recurring role in the popular series "Shameless."
While the name Secret may not have a long historical lineage, it has certainly garnered attention in recent times as a unique and intriguing choice for a given name. Its meaning and connotations of mystery and intrigue have likely contributed to its appeal among parents seeking a distinctive name for their child.
People
Secret + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Secret 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
Secret: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Secret?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 723 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Secret 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 474,072 US residents.
Is Secret a common name?
We classify Secret as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 743 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Secret most popular?
The single biggest year for Secret was 2006, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Secret is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Secret in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 586 people with the name Secret, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,401 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 Secret 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 Secret?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Secret leans strongly female. 557 people counted with this name were female (95.1%), compared with 29 male bearers (4.9%). 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 Secret?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Secret is Black at 48.3%. The next largest groups are White (30.4%) and Hispanic (9.6%). 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 Secret most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Secret in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.3% (283 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 Secret in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Secret a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Secret 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 Secret still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Secret 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 Secret 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 Secret as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.