Winter
Symbolizing the cold season, promising warmth despite chilling elements.
Name Census estimates that about 15,587 living Americans carry the first name Winter. It sits at #385 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (93.9% of registrations). The average person named Winter today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Winter births was 2022 (1,116 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Winter. 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 Winter with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Winter is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
16K
~ 1 in 21,990 Americans
Peak year
2022
1,116 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#385
Tracked since 1954
Census
Winter in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,000 people with the first name Winter, which placed it at #2,468 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
#2,468
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,000 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Winter
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Winter is White at 50.9%. The next largest groups are Black (22.8%) and Hispanic (11.7%). 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 Winter 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 Winter at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.9% · 5,089
- Black or African American22.8% · 2,284
- Hispanic or Latino11.7% · 1,170
- Two or more races9.5% · 946
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.0% · 299
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 212
Gender
Gender distribution for Winter
Winter leans heavily female at 93.9% of total registrations, but 958 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Winter as a male name
- Ranked #2,358 in 2024
- 60 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (71 births)
Winter as a female name
- Ranked #385 in 2024
- 816 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (1,051 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Winter leans strongly female. 9,214 people counted with this name were female (92.1%), compared with 792 male bearers (7.9%).
Popularity
Winter: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Winter from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 5,810 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
Winter 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 Winter during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Winters live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Winter, while Wyoming, District of Columbia, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 253 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Winter
The name Winter is an English word derived from the Old English term "wintertide", which referred to the coldest season of the year. This name's origins can be traced back to the Germanic roots "wintar" and "ventr", both words connected to the concept of wind or adverse weather conditions.
In ancient times, Winter was not commonly used as a given name. However, it appeared as a descriptive term in various texts, such as Beowulf, an Old English epic poem composed between the 8th and 11th centuries, where it was used to depict the harshness of the winter season.
The earliest recorded use of Winter as a given name dates back to the 16th century. One of the first notable individuals to bear this name was Winter de Worde, an English printer and publisher active in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
Throughout history, several notable figures have been associated with the name Winter. One such individual was Winter de Wynter (c. 1495-1589), an English judge and law writer who served as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Another prominent figure was Winter Quartermain (1609-1665), an English soldier and Member of Parliament who fought for the Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War.
In the realm of literature, Winter Graham (1805-1892) was an American novelist and playwright known for her works exploring social issues and women's rights.
Moving to more recent times, Winter Quarters Maxwell (1858-1940) was an American military officer who served in the Spanish-American War and received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Philippine-American War.
Additionally, Winter Laake (1898-1967) was a Finnish athlete who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the men's triple jump event.
While not as commonly used as some other names, Winter has had a presence throughout history, with individuals bearing this name making significant contributions in various fields, including law, literature, military service, and athletics.
People
Winter + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Winter 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
Winter: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Winter?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,587 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Winter 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 21,990 US residents.
Is Winter a common name?
We classify Winter as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,832 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Winter most popular?
The single biggest year for Winter was 2022, when 1,116 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Winter is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Winter in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,000 people with the name Winter, or 3.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,468 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 Winter 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 Winter?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Winter leans strongly female. 9,214 people counted with this name were female (92.1%), compared with 792 male bearers (7.9%). 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 Winter?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Winter is White at 50.9%. The next largest groups are Black (22.8%) and Hispanic (11.7%). 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 Winter most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Winter in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.9% (5,089 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 Winter in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Winter a female name?
Yes, 93.9% of people registered as Winter in the SSA data are female. 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 Winter still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Winter 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 Winter 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 called Winter?
You can see how many people have the name Winter on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.