True
Asserting or implying sincerity, honesty, or authenticity as a desired trait.
Name Census estimates that about 3,993 living Americans carry the first name True. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 52.8% of registrations being male. The average person named True today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of True births was 2024 (434 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for True. 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 True with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • True sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • True is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.0K
~ 1 in 85,839 Americans
Peak year
2024
434 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#986
Tracked since 1882
Census
True in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,112 people with the first name True, which placed it at #7,275 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
#7,275
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,112 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
36.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for True
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named True is White at 36.2%. The next largest groups are Black (29.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (17.0%). 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 True 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 True at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White36.2% · 764
- Black or African American29.1% · 615
- Asian and Pacific Islander17.0% · 359
- Two or more races8.5% · 180
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 168
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 26
Gender
Gender distribution for True
True is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 4,291 total registrations, 2,266 (52.8%) were male and 2,025 (47.2%) were female.
True as a male name
- Ranked #986 in 2024
- 228 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (228 births)
True as a female name
- Ranked #1,167 in 2024
- 206 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (218 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows True on both sides of the split. Of the 2,115 people counted with this name, 1,114 were male (52.7%) and 1,001 were female (47.3%).
Popularity
True: popularity over time
The SSA tracks True from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 2,003 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
True 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 True during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Trues live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. California, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named True, while Oregon, Nevada, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 75 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of True
The name True is an English word name derived from the Old English word "treowe", meaning faithful, loyal, or steadfast. It's believed to have originated as a nickname or descriptive term during the Middle Ages, referring to someone who was perceived as honest, trustworthy, or true to their word.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name True can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where a landowner named Truwi is listed. This name is thought to be a variant spelling of True, indicating the name's use in England during the 11th century.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the name True became more widespread in English-speaking regions, particularly among Puritan and Quaker communities. These religious groups often favored virtue names, and True was seen as a name that embodied the value of honesty and truthfulness.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name True was True Brewster, born in 1592 in England. He was a son of Mayflower passenger William Brewster and immigrated to the Plymouth Colony in 1620. Another early bearer of the name was True Robinson, born in 1608 in England and later settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony.
In the 18th century, True Selden (1735-1820) was a notable American lawyer and jurist from Virginia. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and played a role in drafting the first Virginia Constitution.
True Worthy White (1789-1854) was an American missionary and teacher who established several schools in Hawaii, helping to promote literacy and education among the Native Hawaiian population.
True Whittier (1836-1924) was an American artist and writer, best known for her paintings depicting scenes from New England life. She was also a distant cousin of the renowned poet John Greenleaf Whittier.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the name True remained relatively uncommon but continued to be used, particularly in the United States. Notable individuals from this period include True Boardman (1837-1918), an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. Senator from Connecticut, and True Williams (1888-1970), an American baseball player who played for the Philadelphia Athletics.
People
True + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with True 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
True: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named True?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,993 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for True 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 85,839 US residents.
Is True a common name?
We classify True as "Rare". It ranks above 96% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,291 babies have been registered with this name.
When was True most popular?
The single biggest year for True was 2024, when 434 babies received the name. The fact that the average living True is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was True in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,112 people with the name True, or 0.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,275 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 True 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 True?
The 2020 Census sex table shows True on both sides of the split. Of the 2,115 people counted with this name, 1,114 were male (52.7%) and 1,001 were female (47.3%). 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 True?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named True is White at 36.2%. The next largest groups are Black (29.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (17.0%). 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 True most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named True in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.2% (764 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 True in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is True a male name?
Yes, 52.8% of people registered as True 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 True still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded True 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 True 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 True?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.