Temple
A feminine name derived from the English word for a religious building.
Name Census estimates that about 1,565 living Americans carry the first name Temple. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 65.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Temple today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Temple births was 1971 (104 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Temple. 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
1.6K
~ 1 in 219,012 Americans
Peak year
1971
104 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,467
Tracked since 1884
Census
Temple in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,641 people with the first name Temple, which placed it at #8,751 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
#8,751
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,641 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Temple
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Temple is White at 65.3%. The next largest groups are Black (25.1%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Temple 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 Temple at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.3% · 1,071
- Black or African American25.1% · 412
- Two or more races4.0% · 65
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 53
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 15
Gender
Gender distribution for Temple
Temple is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,387 total registrations, 828 (34.7%) were male and 1,559 (65.3%) were female.
Temple as a male name
- Ranked #10,755 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1964 (26 births)
Temple as a female name
- Ranked #9,467 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1971 (88 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Temple on both sides of the split. Of the 1,634 people counted with this name, 493 were male (30.2%) and 1,141 were female (69.8%).
Popularity
Temple: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Temple from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 385 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
Temple 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 Temple during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Temples live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Texas, Virginia, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Temple, while Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Temple
The name Temple is an English word derived from the Latin word templum, which referred to a consecrated space or sanctuary dedicated to a deity or deities in ancient Roman culture. The word templum itself is believed to have originated from the Proto-Indo-European root *tem-, meaning "to cut" or "to separate," suggesting a demarcated or sacred space.
The name Temple likely emerged as a personal name during the medieval period in England, possibly inspired by the Latin word's association with religious structures or the sacred spaces within. It may have initially been used as a surname for individuals who lived near or worked at a temple or church.
One of the earliest recorded uses of Temple as a given name dates back to the late 16th century. In 1597, Temple West was born in England, though records of his life are scarce.
A notable figure with the name Temple was Sir William Temple (1628-1699), an English statesman, diplomat, and essayist. He played a significant role in negotiating the Triple Alliance of 1668 between England, Sweden, and the Dutch Republic against France.
Another prominent individual was Temple Leader (1888-1967), an American lawyer and politician who served as the 72nd Governor of Pennsylvania from 1955 to 1959. He played a crucial role in implementing reforms in education and promoting industrial development during his tenure.
In the literary world, Temple Drake was a fictional character created by American author William Faulkner in his 1931 novel Sanctuary. The character's name and story have become iconic in Southern Gothic literature.
Reverend Temple Hayes (1792-1858) was an American Baptist minister and educator who served as the president of Granville College, now known as Denison University, in Ohio from 1845 to 1858.
While not a common name, Temple has been used across various cultures and time periods, often reflecting its religious or sacred connotations. Its historical usage has spanned different parts of the world, from England to the United States, and has been associated with notable figures in various fields.
People
Temple + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Temple as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Temple: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Temple?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,565 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Temple 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 219,012 US residents.
Is Temple a common name?
We classify Temple as "Rare". It ranks above 92.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,387 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Temple most popular?
The single biggest year for Temple was 1971, when 104 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Temple is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Temple in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,641 people with the name Temple, or 0.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,751 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 Temple 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 Temple?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Temple on both sides of the split. Of the 1,634 people counted with this name, 493 were male (30.2%) and 1,141 were female (69.8%). 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 Temple?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Temple is White at 65.3%. The next largest groups are Black (25.1%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Temple most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Temple in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.3% (1,071 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 Temple in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Temple a female name?
Yes, 65.3% of people registered as Temple 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 Temple still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Temple 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 Temple 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 common is the name Temple?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Temple at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.