Stone
A masculine name from Old English meaning "rock, stone".
Name Census estimates that about 6,418 living Americans carry the first name Stone. It is a predominantly male name (97.9% of registrations). The average person named Stone today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Stone births was 1999 (288 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Stone. 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 Stone with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Stone is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 138 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Stone is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
6.4K
~ 1 in 53,405 Americans
Peak year
1999
288 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,048
Tracked since 1919
Census
Stone in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,336 people with the first name Stone, which placed it at #3,749 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
#3,749
National first-name rank
People counted
5.3K
5,336 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Stone
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stone is White at 74.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Stone 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 Stone at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.7% · 3,986
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 437
- Two or more races7.0% · 374
- Black or African American5.7% · 306
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 172
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 61
Gender
Gender distribution for Stone
Stone leans heavily male at 97.9% of total registrations, but 138 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Stone as a male name
- Ranked #1,048 in 2024
- 210 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (288 births)
Stone as a female name
- Ranked #9,449 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (20 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stone leans strongly male. 5,176 people counted with this name were male (97.0%), compared with 160 female bearers (3.0%).
Popularity
Stone: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Stone from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,066 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Stone remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Stone 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 Stone during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stones live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Stone, while Nevada, Massachusetts, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 125 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Stone
The given name Stone is derived from the Old English word "stān," which means a small piece of rock or a precious stone. This name has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon culture and can be traced back to the 5th century AD in England. The name was initially given to individuals who lived near a prominent stone or rock formation, or to those who worked with stone as a trade.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Stone can be found in the Domesday Book, a survey of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as a surname, indicating that it was already in use as a personal name before that time.
In the 12th century, the name gained popularity among Christians who associated it with the biblical story of Jesus being the "stone that the builders rejected" (Matthew 21:42). This connection made the name Stone a symbolic representation of strength, resilience, and faith.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Stone. One of the most famous was Stone Wallensis, a 13th-century Welsh priest and chronicler who wrote the influential work "Flores Historiarum" (Flowers of History). Another notable figure was Stone Martin, an English merchant and explorer who accompanied Sir Walter Raleigh on his expeditions to the Americas in the late 16th century.
In the realm of arts and literature, Stone Fairfield (1597-1676) was an English poet and playwright who wrote several works for the Jacobean stage. Stone Tash (1779-1855), on the other hand, was a renowned English painter known for his landscapes and portraits.
Moving into the modern era, Stone Phillips (born 1954) is an American journalist and television anchor who has worked for various news networks, including NBC and ABC. Stone Gossard (born 1966) is a prominent American musician, best known as the guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Pearl Jam.
People
Stone + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Stone 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
Stone: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Stone?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,418 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Stone 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 53,405 US residents.
Is Stone a common name?
We classify Stone as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,554 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Stone most popular?
The single biggest year for Stone was 1999, when 288 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Stone is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Stone in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,336 people with the name Stone, or 1.77 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,749 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 Stone 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 Stone?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stone leans strongly male. 5,176 people counted with this name were male (97.0%), compared with 160 female bearers (3.0%). 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 Stone?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stone is White at 74.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Stone most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Stone in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.7% (3,986 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 Stone in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Stone a male name?
Yes, 97.9% of people registered as Stone 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 Stone still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Stone 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 Stone 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 called Stone?
You can see how many people share the name Stone on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.