Sibley
A variant or diminutive form of Sidney, from an English place name meaning "wide meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 116 living Americans carry the first name Sibley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Sibley today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sibley births was 2017 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sibley. 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
116
~ 1 in 2,954,779 Americans
Peak year
2017
12 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
1925 SSA rank
#4,130
Tracked since 1917
Census
Sibley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 235 people with the first name Sibley, which placed it at #34,648 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
#34,648
National first-name rank
People counted
235
235 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sibley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sibley is White at 78.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.5%) and Black (5.1%). 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 Sibley 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 Sibley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.3% · 184
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 20
- Black or African American5.1% · 12
- Two or more races4.3% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Sibley
Sibley leans heavily female at 86.7% of total registrations, but 18 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Sibley as a male name
- Ranked #4,130 in 1925
- 6 male births in 1925
- Peak: 1917 (7 births)
Sibley as a female name
- Ranked #15,052 in 2022
- 6 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2017 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sibley leans strongly female. 199 people counted with this name were female (86.1%), compared with 32 male bearers (13.9%).
Popularity
Sibley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sibley from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 71 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sibley 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 Sibley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sibley
The name Sibley originates from the Old English term "sib," which means "kinsman" or "relative." It is believed to have been derived from the Proto-Germanic word "sibja," meaning "one's own." This name first emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, between the 5th and 11th centuries.
The earliest recorded use of the name Sibley dates back to the 11th century, when it was used as a surname to denote a person's relationship to their family or clan. One of the first known instances of the name appears in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land and property commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.
In the 12th century, Sibley appeared as a given name in various historical records across England. One notable example is Sibley de Stowe, who was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Northamptonshire in 1166. This record suggests that the name was already in use as a personal name by this time.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Sibley continued to be used, primarily among the English nobility and gentry. One prominent figure who bore this name was Sir Sibley de Walwyn, a knight who fought alongside King Edward III during the Hundred Years' War in the 14th century.
In the 16th century, the name Sibley gained popularity among the English Puritans, who often chose biblical or virtue-based names for their children. One notable Puritan with this name was Sibley Partridge, a prominent merchant and landowner in Massachusetts Bay Colony, born in 1613.
Another noteworthy individual was Sibley Tompkins (1695-1768), an English clergyman and author who wrote several influential works on religious and philosophical topics. His book "The Reasonableness of Christianity" was widely read and debated in the 18th century.
In the 19th century, the name Sibley was carried across the Atlantic by English settlers to North America. One of the most famous bearers of this name was Henry Hastings Sibley (1811-1891), an American military officer and politician who served as the first governor of Minnesota.
Overall, the name Sibley has a rich history spanning several centuries, with roots in the Anglo-Saxon tradition and connections to various notable figures throughout English and American history.
People
Sibley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sibley 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
Sibley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sibley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 116 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sibley 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 2,954,779 US residents.
Is Sibley a common name?
We classify Sibley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 135 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sibley most popular?
The single biggest year for Sibley was 2017, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sibley is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sibley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 235 people with the name Sibley, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,648 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 Sibley 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 Sibley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sibley leans strongly female. 199 people counted with this name were female (86.1%), compared with 32 male bearers (13.9%). 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 Sibley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sibley is White at 78.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.5%) and Black (5.1%). 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 Sibley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sibley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.3% (184 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 Sibley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sibley a female name?
Yes, 86.7% of people registered as Sibley 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 Sibley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sibley 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 Sibley 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 Sibley?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.