Webb
A name derived from an occupation word referring to a weaver.
Name Census estimates that about 876 living Americans carry the first name Webb. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Webb today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Webb births was 1927 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Webb. 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
876
~ 1 in 391,272 Americans
Peak year
1927
27 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,628
Tracked since 1880
Census
Webb in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 884 people with the first name Webb, which placed it at #13,601 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
#13,601
National first-name rank
People counted
884
884 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Webb
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Webb is White at 82.6%. The next largest groups are Black (11.0%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Webb 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 Webb at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.6% · 730
- Black or African American11.0% · 97
- Two or more races2.8% · 25
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 10
Popularity
Webb: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Webb from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 195 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Webb remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Webb 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 Webb during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Webbs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Webb, while North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Webb
The name Webb originated as an English surname derived from the occupation of a weaver, derived from the Old English word "webb" meaning "weaver". It eventually transitioned into use as a masculine given name as well.
The earliest recorded use of Webb as a first name dates back to the 16th century in England. One of the earliest known bearers was Webb Raleigh, an English landowner and member of Parliament who lived from 1562 to 1622.
In the 17th century, Webb Elliston (1613-1675) was an English clergyman and academic who served as the Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. During the same period, Webb Follett (1623-1677) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons.
The name gained further prominence in the 18th century with individuals like Webb Seymour (1718-1795), an English politician and Member of Parliament, and Webb Jackson (1734-1795), a British naval officer and explorer who served in the Royal Navy.
In the 19th century, Webb Everett (1818-1892) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 15th Governor of Massachusetts from 1859 to 1860. Another notable bearer was Webb Peploe (1826-1894), an English Anglican clergyman and writer known for his evangelical works.
The name continued to be used in the 20th century, with notable individuals such as Webb Miller (1892-1940), an American artist and painter known for his modernist works, and Webb Pierce (1921-1991), an American country music singer and songwriter who popularized the honky-tonk sound.
While the name Webb has its origins as an English surname, it has been adopted as a given name across various cultures and regions, reflecting its historic and occupational roots in weaving and textile production.
People
Webb + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Webb 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
Webb: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Webb?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 876 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Webb 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 391,272 US residents.
Is Webb a common name?
We classify Webb as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,642 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Webb most popular?
The single biggest year for Webb was 1927, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Webb is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Webb in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 884 people with the name Webb, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,601 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 Webb 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 Webb?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Webb leans strongly male. 853 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 36 female bearers (4.0%). 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 Webb?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Webb is White at 82.6%. The next largest groups are Black (11.0%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Webb most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Webb in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.6% (730 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 Webb in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Webb a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Webb 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 Webb still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Webb 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 Webb 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 Webb?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.