Sloan
A Scottish surname derived from Gaelic meaning "warrior" or "raid."
Name Census estimates that about 10,507 living Americans carry the first name Sloan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 74.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Sloan today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sloan births was 2021 (624 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sloan. 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 Sloan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Sloan started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Sloan is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 32,622 Americans
Peak year
2021
624 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#762
Tracked since 1885
Census
Sloan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,783 people with the first name Sloan, which placed it at #2,920 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
#2,920
National first-name rank
People counted
7.8K
7,783 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sloan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sloan is White at 81.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.8%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Sloan 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 Sloan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.1% · 6,312
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 531
- Two or more races6.4% · 502
- Black or African American4.0% · 312
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 73
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 53
Gender
Gender distribution for Sloan
Sloan is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 10,881 total registrations, 2,820 (25.9%) were male and 8,061 (74.1%) were female.
Sloan as a male name
- Ranked #2,087 in 2024
- 72 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (94 births)
Sloan as a female name
- Ranked #762 in 2024
- 369 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (530 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sloan on both sides of the split. Of the 7,783 people counted with this name, 2,050 were male (26.3%) and 5,733 were female (73.7%).
Popularity
Sloan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sloan from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 4,598 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Sloan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sloan 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 Sloan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sloans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 39 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Sloan, while South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 169 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sloan
The name Sloan has its origins in the Gaelic language, originating from Scotland and Ireland. It is derived from the Irish word "sluagh," which means "host" or "multitude," and the Scottish Gaelic word "sluan," meaning "army" or "battalion." This suggests that the name may have been used to refer to someone who was a leader or warrior in ancient times.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sloan can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. In this text, the name appears as "Sloane" in the 12th century, referring to a clan or family from County Antrim in Northern Ireland.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Sloan. One of the earliest was John Sloan (1671-1726), an English-born colonial governor of New York and New Jersey in the early 18th century. Another prominent figure was John Sloan (1871-1951), an American painter and etcher who was a member of the Ashcan School and is known for his depictions of urban life in New York City.
In the literary world, John Sloan Dickey (1907-1991) was an American novelist and poet who served as the 14th president of Dartmouth College from 1945 to 1970. He was known for his work in promoting liberal arts education and his opposition to the Vietnam War.
The name Sloan has also been associated with scientific and technological advancements. Alfred P. Sloan Jr. (1875-1966) was an American businessman and philanthropist who served as the president and chairman of General Motors. He is credited with establishing the modern corporate structure and management practices that helped GM become one of the largest and most successful companies in the world.
Lastly, John Sloan Dickey (1923-2015), a distant relative of the aforementioned John Sloan Dickey, was an American diplomat and politician who served as the United States Ambassador to Canada from 1975 to 1977 and later as the president of Dartmouth College from 1970 to 1981.
People
Sloan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sloan 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
Sloan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sloan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,507 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sloan 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 32,622 US residents.
Is Sloan a common name?
We classify Sloan as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,881 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sloan most popular?
The single biggest year for Sloan was 2021, when 624 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sloan is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sloan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,783 people with the name Sloan, or 2.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,920 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 Sloan 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 Sloan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sloan on both sides of the split. Of the 7,783 people counted with this name, 2,050 were male (26.3%) and 5,733 were female (73.7%). 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 Sloan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sloan is White at 81.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.8%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Sloan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sloan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.1% (6,312 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 Sloan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sloan a female name?
Yes, 74.1% of people registered as Sloan 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 Sloan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sloan 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 Sloan 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 the name Sloan?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Sloan, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.