Spring
A feminine name of English origin representing the season of renewal.
Name Census estimates that about 3,165 living Americans carry the first name Spring. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Spring today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Spring births was 1976 (251 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Spring. 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 Spring with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.2K
~ 1 in 108,295 Americans
Peak year
1976
251 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,108
Tracked since 1951
Census
Spring in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,015 people with the first name Spring, which placed it at #5,617 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
#5,617
National first-name rank
People counted
3.0K
3,015 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Spring
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Spring is White at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Black (13.0%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Spring 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 Spring at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.4% · 2,091
- Black or African American13.0% · 393
- Two or more races5.5% · 167
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.5% · 165
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 152
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 47
Popularity
Spring: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Spring from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 1,388 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Spring 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 Spring during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Springs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. California, Illinois, Texas recorded the most babies named Spring, while Nebraska, Idaho, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 44 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Spring
The name Spring originated from the English language, deriving its meaning from the season of spring, which represents the time of year when new life emerges and nature awakens from the dormancy of winter. This name is believed to have first gained popularity in the 17th and 18th centuries during the Romantic era when a renewed appreciation for nature and its cycles blossomed.
One of the earliest recorded uses of Spring as a given name can be found in the writings of the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. In his play "A Midsummer Night's Dream," written around 1595-1596, he mentions a character named "Spring" in reference to the personification of the season.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Spring. One of the earliest recorded examples is Spring Rice, an English politician who served as a Member of Parliament in the early 19th century, born in 1809 and passing away in 1886.
Another prominent figure with this name was Spring Byington, an American actress famous for her roles in various stage productions and films during the 1930s and 1940s. She was born in 1886 and lived until 1971.
In the realm of literature, Spring Horton was an American writer and editor who published several novels and short stories in the early 20th century. She was born in 1873 and passed away in 1926.
The world of sports has also seen individuals named Spring, such as Spring Byington, a Swedish ice hockey player who represented her country in various international competitions during the 1990s and early 2000s.
Lastly, Spring Warren was an American artist and sculptor active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known for her works depicting scenes from nature and the changing seasons. She was born in 1865 and passed away in 1927.
People
Spring + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Spring 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
Spring: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Spring?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,165 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Spring 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 108,295 US residents.
Is Spring a common name?
We classify Spring as "Rare". It ranks above 95.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,511 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Spring most popular?
The single biggest year for Spring was 1976, when 251 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Spring is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Spring in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,015 people with the name Spring, or 1.00 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,617 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 Spring 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 Spring?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Spring appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,016 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Spring?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Spring is White at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Black (13.0%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Spring most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Spring in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.4% (2,091 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 Spring in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Spring a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Spring 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 Spring still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Spring 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 Spring 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 are named Spring?
Find out how many people share the name Spring on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.