Volney
One of French origin referring to a fertile valley.
Name Census estimates that about 114 living Americans carry the first name Volney. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Volney today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Volney births was 1916 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Volney. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Volney is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Volneys were born before 1959.
People living today
114
~ 1 in 3,006,617 Americans
Peak year
1916
26 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1986 SSA rank
#7,780
Tracked since 1880
Census
Volney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 239 people with the first name Volney, which placed it at #34,236 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
#34,236
National first-name rank
People counted
239
239 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Volney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Volney is White at 60.7%. The next largest groups are Black (25.5%) and Hispanic (8.4%). 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 Volney 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 Volney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.7% · 145
- Black or African American25.5% · 61
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 6
- Two or more races1.7% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 3
Popularity
Volney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Volney from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 156 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Volney 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 Volney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Volneys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Volney
The name Volney is a French masculine given name that originated in the 18th century. It is believed to have been derived from the French surname Volney, which itself likely comes from the Old French word "volonté," meaning "will" or "volition."
One of the earliest and most notable bearers of the name was Constantin-François Chassebœuf, Comte de Volney (1757-1820), a renowned French philosopher, historian, and travel writer. He is best known for his work "Les Ruines, ou Méditations sur les révolutions des empires" (The Ruins, or Meditations on the Revolutions of Empires), published in 1791, which criticized organized religion and advocated for reason and secularism.
Another notable figure named Volney was Volney Howard (1809-1889), an American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas. He was born in Richland County, Ohio, and later moved to Texas, where he practiced law and was involved in politics.
In the literary world, Volney Streamer (1835-1876) was an American writer and journalist who worked for various publications in New York City during the mid-19th century. He is particularly known for his contributions to the New York Tribune and his work as a war correspondent during the American Civil War.
The name Volney also appears in the realm of sports. Volney C. Tryon (1888-1965) was an American athlete who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. He won a silver medal in the standing long jump event.
Finally, Volney Streeter (1854-1918) was an American businessman and philanthropist from Portland, Oregon. He made his fortune in the timber industry and was actively involved in various charitable and educational causes, including the establishment of the Volney Streeter Fund, which supported the education of Native American students.
These examples demonstrate the historical use and significance of the name Volney across various fields, including philosophy, politics, literature, sports, and business. While the name may not be as common today, it has left a lasting impact on the cultural and historical landscape.
People
Volney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Volney as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with V
Other first names starting with V with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Volney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Volney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 114 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Volney 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 3,006,617 US residents.
Is Volney a common name?
We classify Volney as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 629 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Volney most popular?
The single biggest year for Volney was 1916, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Volney is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Volney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 239 people with the name Volney, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,236 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 Volney 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 Volney?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Volney leans strongly male. 234 people counted with this name were male (97.1%), compared with 7 female bearers (2.9%). 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 Volney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Volney is White at 60.7%. The next largest groups are Black (25.5%) and Hispanic (8.4%). 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 Volney most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Volney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.7% (145 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 Volney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Volney a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Volney 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 Volney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Volney 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 Volney 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 have the name Volney?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Volney, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.