Wellington
A male name derived from the Old English place name meaning "wealthy estate".
Name Census estimates that about 1,491 living Americans carry the first name Wellington. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wellington today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wellington births was 1922 (60 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wellington. 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
1.5K
~ 1 in 229,882 Americans
Peak year
1922
60 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,260
Tracked since 1880
Census
Wellington in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,330 people with the first name Wellington, which placed it at #6,771 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
#6,771
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,330 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
33.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wellington
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wellington is Hispanic at 33.4%. The next largest groups are White (32.0%) and Black (24.9%). 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 Wellington 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 Wellington at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino33.4% · 778
- White32.0% · 745
- Black or African American24.9% · 581
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.2% · 168
- Two or more races2.1% · 50
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 8
Popularity
Wellington: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wellington from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 414 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Wellington remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wellington 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 Wellington during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wellingtons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Wellington, while Ohio, Georgia, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wellington
The given name Wellington originated from an Old English surname that was derived from the combination of two words: "weall" meaning "wall" and "tun" meaning "town" or "settlement". It was initially a descriptive name for someone who lived near a walled town or settlement. The name's roots can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon era in Britain, around the 5th to 11th centuries AD.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wellington was in the Domesday Book, a record of landholdings commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appeared as "Walintone", referring to a place name in Somerset, England. This suggests that the name had already been in use as a surname before the Norman Conquest of 1066.
In the 12th century, the name Wellington gained prominence due to its association with Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852). He was a renowned British military leader and statesman who achieved victory against Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. His triumph and subsequent fame contributed to the widespread adoption of the name Wellington, both as a surname and a given name.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the first name Wellington. One of the earliest was Wellington Bunbury (1805-1888), a British army officer and politician who served as Under-Secretary of State for War from 1852 to 1858. Another prominent figure was Wellington Koo (1888-1985), a Chinese diplomat and politician who served as the Republic of China's representative to the League of Nations and the United Nations.
In the realm of literature, the name Wellington is associated with the American author Wellington Ayer (1833-1913), who wrote several novels and short stories in the late 19th century. The British painter Wellington Brownrigg (1807-1867) was also a notable figure in his field, known for his landscape and genre paintings.
Another significant bearer of the name was Wellington Burt (1892-1976), an American aviation pioneer who played a crucial role in the development of the commercial aviation industry in the United States. He was instrumental in establishing the first transcontinental air routes and served as the president of several major airlines.
While the name Wellington has its roots in Old English and gained prominence through historical figures, it has since been adopted globally and transcended its original cultural boundaries, becoming a popular given name in various parts of the world.
People
Wellington + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wellington 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
Wellington: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wellington?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,491 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wellington 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 229,882 US residents.
Is Wellington a common name?
We classify Wellington as "Rare". It ranks above 92.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,855 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wellington most popular?
The single biggest year for Wellington was 1922, when 60 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wellington is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wellington in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,330 people with the name Wellington, or 0.77 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,771 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 Wellington 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 Wellington?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wellington appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,338 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Wellington?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wellington is Hispanic at 33.4%. The next largest groups are White (32.0%) and Black (24.9%). 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 Wellington most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Wellington in the 2020 Census, accounting for 33.4% (778 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 Wellington in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wellington a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wellington 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 Wellington still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wellington 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 Wellington 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 are named Wellington?
See how many people have the name Wellington on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.