Welford
A masculine name of Old English origin meaning "ford near a meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 154 living Americans carry the first name Welford. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Welford today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Welford births was 1925 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Welford. 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 Welford is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Welfords were born before 1961.
People living today
154
~ 1 in 2,225,678 Americans
Peak year
1925
19 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1984 SSA rank
#7,310
Tracked since 1910
Census
Welford in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 164 people with the first name Welford, which placed it at #43,191 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
#43,191
National first-name rank
People counted
164
164 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
59.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Welford
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Welford is Black at 59.8%. The next largest groups are White (33.5%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Welford 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 Welford at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American59.8% · 98
- White33.5% · 55
- Two or more races3.7% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 1
Popularity
Welford: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Welford from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 123 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Welford 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 Welford during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Welfords live
Origin
Meaning and history of Welford
The name Welford is an English given name derived from the Old English words "well" and "ford," meaning a ford or shallow crossing over a stream or river. This suggests that the name may have originated from individuals who lived near such a location or were associated with fording a body of water.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Welford dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a comprehensive survey of landholdings and properties in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name is mentioned in the Domesday Book as a place name, indicating that settlements or estates with this name existed during that time period.
In the Middle Ages, the name Welford was primarily used as a surname, indicating a person's place of origin or association with a particular location. However, over time, it also became adopted as a given name, likely as a result of the practice of using place names or descriptive terms as personal names.
One notable historical figure with the name Welford was Sir Welford Woodhouse (c. 1590-1668), an English politician who served as a Member of Parliament during the reign of King Charles I. He played a significant role in the English Civil War and was a supporter of the Parliamentarian cause.
Another individual of note was Welford Windemere (1759-1830), a British naval officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars. He participated in several notable battles, including the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and was commended for his bravery and leadership.
In the literary world, Welford Beaton (1824-1899) was a Scottish essayist and writer who gained recognition for his works on Scottish culture and history. His writings provided valuable insights into the traditions and customs of Scotland during the 19th century.
A more contemporary figure was Welford Wilton (1901-1979), an American artist renowned for his landscape paintings depicting scenes from the American West. His works are exhibited in several prominent museums and art galleries across the United States.
Lastly, Welford Petteway (1920-2003) was an African American civil rights activist who played a significant role in the desegregation efforts in the southern United States during the 1960s. He worked closely with organizations like the NAACP and participated in various protests and marches to advocate for equal rights.
People
Welford + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Welford 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
Welford: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Welford?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 154 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Welford 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 2,225,678 US residents.
Is Welford a common name?
We classify Welford as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 487 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Welford most popular?
The single biggest year for Welford was 1925, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Welford is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Welford in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 164 people with the name Welford, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,191 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 Welford 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 Welford?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Welford leans strongly male. 167 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 2 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Welford?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Welford is Black at 59.8%. The next largest groups are White (33.5%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Welford most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Welford in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.8% (98 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 Welford in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Welford a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Welford 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 Welford still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Welford 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 Welford 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 Welford?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Welford on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.