Trace
From Old French, typically meaning a footprint or mark left behind.
Name Census estimates that about 13,469 living Americans carry the first name Trace. It is a predominantly male name (97.5% of registrations). The average person named Trace today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Trace births was 2008 (534 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Trace. 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 Trace with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Trace is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 348 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 25,448 Americans
Peak year
2008
534 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#704
Tracked since 1956
Census
Trace in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,399 people with the first name Trace, which placed it at #2,273 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
#2,273
National first-name rank
People counted
11K
11,399 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Trace
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Trace is White at 82.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.8%) and Black (5.3%). 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 Trace 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 Trace at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.6% · 9,420
- Two or more races5.8% · 661
- Black or African American5.3% · 609
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 485
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 148
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 76
Gender
Gender distribution for Trace
Trace leans heavily male at 97.5% of total registrations, but 348 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Trace as a male name
- Ranked #704 in 2024
- 380 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (534 births)
Trace as a female name
- Ranked #17,425 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (25 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Trace leans strongly male. 10,956 people counted with this name were male (96.1%), compared with 442 female bearers (3.9%).
Popularity
Trace: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Trace from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 4,529 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Trace remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Trace 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 Trace during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Traces live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. Texas, Florida, California recorded the most babies named Trace, while Wyoming, New Mexico, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 256 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Trace
The name Trace has its origins in the French language, derived from the verb "tracer," meaning "to trace" or "to track." This name gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in France and parts of Europe influenced by French culture.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Trace can be found in medieval French texts and documents from the 13th and 14th centuries. It was initially used as a surname for individuals whose occupation involved tracing or tracking, such as hunters, explorers, or surveyors.
Over time, the name Trace transitioned from being a surname to a given name. One of the earliest recorded individuals to bear the name Trace as a first name was Trace de Montferrat, a French nobleman born in 1245. He served as a knight and gained recognition for his bravery during the Eighth Crusade.
Another notable historical figure with the name Trace was Trace Beaumont, a renowned French cartographer who lived from 1420 to 1492. He was responsible for creating some of the most detailed and accurate maps of his time, which aided in the exploration and navigation efforts of that era.
In the 16th century, Trace Leclercq (1540-1618) was a prominent French philosopher and theologian. His writings on ethics and morality had a significant influence on the intellectual discourse of his time.
During the 17th century, Trace Dumont (1629-1693) was a French architect who played a crucial role in the design and construction of several iconic buildings in Paris, including parts of the Louvre Palace.
In more recent history, Trace Armstrong (born 1965) is an American former professional football player who played in the National Football League (NFL) for several teams, including the Chicago Bears and the Miami Dolphins.
While the name Trace has its roots in French culture, it has gained popularity across various regions and languages over the centuries. Its meaning and association with tracing, tracking, and exploration have contributed to its enduring appeal as a given name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Trace
People
Trace + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Trace 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
Trace: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Trace?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,469 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Trace 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 25,448 US residents.
Is Trace a common name?
We classify Trace as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,767 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Trace most popular?
The single biggest year for Trace was 2008, when 534 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Trace is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Trace in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,399 people with the name Trace, or 3.77 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,273 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 Trace 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 Trace?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Trace leans strongly male. 10,956 people counted with this name were male (96.1%), compared with 442 female bearers (3.9%). 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 Trace?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Trace is White at 82.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.8%) and Black (5.3%). 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 Trace most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Trace in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.6% (9,420 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 Trace in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Trace a male name?
Yes, 97.5% of people registered as Trace 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 Trace still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Trace 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 Trace 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 share the name Trace?
Want to know how many people share the name Trace? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.