Wells
A masculine given name of English origin representing "water sources".
Name Census estimates that about 5,590 living Americans carry the first name Wells. It sits at #376 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (97.4% of registrations). The average person named Wells today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wells births was 2024 (877 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wells. 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 Wells with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Wells is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 161 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Wells is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
5.6K
~ 1 in 61,316 Americans
Peak year
2024
877 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#376
Tracked since 1881
Census
Wells in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,452 people with the first name Wells, which placed it at #6,517 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
#6,517
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,452 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wells
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wells is White at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.2%) and Hispanic (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 Wells 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 Wells at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.8% · 2,153
- Two or more races4.2% · 104
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 69
- Black or African American2.8% · 68
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 52
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Wells
Wells leans heavily male at 97.4% of total registrations, but 161 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Wells as a male name
- Ranked #376 in 2024
- 865 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (865 births)
Wells as a female name
- Ranked #8,897 in 2024
- 12 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wells leans strongly male. 2,274 people counted with this name were male (92.9%), compared with 174 female bearers (7.1%).
Popularity
Wells: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wells from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 3,434 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wells 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 Wells during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wells' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. Texas, Utah, California recorded the most babies named Wells, while Nevada, Maine, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 104 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wells
The given name Wells is an English surname that has been used as a masculine first name since the 19th century. It is derived from the Old English word "wielle" or "wiell," meaning a spring or stream of water. The name is associated with the natural world and may have originated as a descriptive name for someone who lived near a well or a source of water.
In its earliest recorded use as a first name, Wells appeared in the United States in the late 1800s. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this first name was Wells Goodykoontz, born in 1853 in Ohio. Another early bearer of the name was Wells College, founded in 1868 in Aurora, New York, and named after its founder, Henry Wells.
One of the most famous individuals named Wells was the English writer and science fiction pioneer, H.G. Wells (1866-1946). His full name was Herbert George Wells, and he is best known for his works such as "The Time Machine," "The War of the Worlds," and "The Invisible Man." Wells is considered a pioneer of the science fiction genre and his works have had a lasting impact on literature and popular culture.
Another notable figure with the name Wells was Wells Fargo (1824-1892), the American businessman and co-founder of the Wells Fargo Express Company, which later became the Wells Fargo Bank. His company played a crucial role in the development of the American West during the 19th century.
In the world of sports, Wells Bayley (1887-1965) was an American tennis player who won the U.S. National Championships (now the US Open) in 1905 and 1908. He was also a member of the U.S. Davis Cup team and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1958.
Wells Wentworth Hibbard (1804-1833) was an American painter known for his landscapes and portraits. He was part of the Hudson River School movement and his works are held in collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
While the name Wells has its roots in Old English and was originally used as a surname, it has gained popularity as a masculine first name in more recent times, particularly in the English-speaking world. Its association with natural elements and historical figures has contributed to its enduring appeal.
People
Wells + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wells 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
Wells: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wells?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,590 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wells 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 61,316 US residents.
Is Wells a common name?
We classify Wells as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,201 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wells most popular?
The single biggest year for Wells was 2024, when 877 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wells is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wells in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,452 people with the name Wells, or 0.81 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,517 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 Wells 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 Wells?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wells leans strongly male. 2,274 people counted with this name were male (92.9%), compared with 174 female bearers (7.1%). 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 Wells?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wells is White at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.2%) and Hispanic (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 Wells most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wells in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.8% (2,153 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 Wells in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wells a male name?
Yes, 97.4% of people registered as Wells 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 Wells still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wells 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 Wells 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 Wells?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Wells, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.