Wayde
An English variant of the Welsh surname waed meaning "blood, gore."
Name Census estimates that about 2,004 living Americans carry the first name Wayde. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wayde today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wayde births was 1959 (252 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wayde. 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 Wayde with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 171,035 Americans
Peak year
1959
252 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,582
Tracked since 1915
Census
Wayde in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,644 people with the first name Wayde, which placed it at #8,740 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
#8,740
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,644 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wayde
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wayde is White at 78.2%. The next largest groups are Black (9.0%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Wayde 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 Wayde at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.2% · 1,285
- Black or African American9.0% · 148
- Two or more races5.0% · 83
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 53
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 50
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 25
Popularity
Wayde: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wayde from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 502 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Wayde remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wayde 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 Wayde during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Waydes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Wayde, while Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wayde
The given name Wayde has its origins in the English language, with roots tracing back to the Middle English period (circa 1150-1500 CE). It is believed to be a variant of the name Wade, which itself derives from the Old English word "wadan," meaning "to go" or "to journey."
While the exact origins of the name Wayde are not entirely clear, it is thought to have emerged as a surname in parts of England during the 12th or 13th century. Over time, it transitioned into use as a given name, though it remained relatively uncommon compared to more prevalent names of the era.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wayde can be found in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire, England, dating back to 1191. These rolls were financial records kept by the English Exchequer, and they mention a individual named "Wayde de Hertford."
Throughout history, there have been a few notable individuals who bore the name Wayde. One such figure was Wayde Hampton (1585-1643), an English politician and Member of Parliament who represented the borough of Shaftesbury during the early 17th century.
Another individual of note was Wayde Browne (1707-1782), a British naval officer and explorer who served in the Royal Navy and is credited with helping to chart and map parts of the South Pacific region during his voyages in the mid-18th century.
In the realm of literature, one cannot overlook Wayde Fortescue (1819-1884), an English playwright and novelist who authored several popular works during the Victorian era, including the novel "The Crippled Heart" and the play "The Patrician's Daughter."
Crossing over into the field of science, Wayde Rutherford (1871-1937) was a renowned British physicist and Nobel laureate, best known for his pioneering work in the study of radioactivity and the structure of the atom.
Lastly, in the world of sports, Wayde van Niekerk (born 1992) is a South African sprinter and Olympic gold medalist, famous for his record-breaking performance in the 400-meter event at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
While the name Wayde has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, these individuals and their respective contributions have helped to keep the name alive and imbue it with a sense of historical significance across various fields and disciplines.
People
Wayde + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wayde as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Wayde: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wayde?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,004 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wayde 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 171,035 US residents.
Is Wayde a common name?
We classify Wayde as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,255 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wayde most popular?
The single biggest year for Wayde was 1959, when 252 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wayde is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wayde in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,644 people with the name Wayde, or 0.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,740 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 Wayde 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 Wayde?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wayde appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,639 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Wayde?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wayde is White at 78.2%. The next largest groups are Black (9.0%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Wayde most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wayde in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.2% (1,285 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 Wayde in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wayde a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wayde 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 Wayde still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wayde 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 Wayde 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 Americans are named Wayde?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.