Wolcott
A masculine given name of English origin meaning "dwelling or village by the winding river".
Name Census estimates that about 0 living Americans carry the first name Wolcott. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wolcott today is around 0 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wolcott births was 1923 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wolcott. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Wolcott. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
0
~ - Americans
Peak year
1923
7 babies that year
Average age
-
1923 SSA rank
#3,820
Tracked since 1923
Popularity
Wolcott: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Wolcott 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 Wolcott during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1920s | 7 | 0 | 7 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Wolcott
The name Wolcott is an English given name with roots dating back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English words "wulf" meaning wolf and "cot" meaning cottage or dwelling. The name can be traced back to the 11th century, when it was used as a surname for someone who lived near a wolf's den or cottage.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wolcott was in the Domesday Book of 1086, a medieval census commissioned by William the Conqueror. The Domesday Book listed several individuals with the surname Wolcott, indicating that the name was already in use by the late 11th century.
During the Middle Ages, the name Wolcott gained popularity among the English nobility. One notable bearer of the name was Sir Wolcott de Wolcott, who lived in the 13th century and fought alongside King Edward I during the Scottish Wars of Independence.
In the 16th century, the name Wolcott made its way across the Atlantic to the American colonies. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name in America was Roger Wolcott, who was born in 1679 and served as the colonial governor of Connecticut from 1751 to 1754.
Another famous bearer of the name was Oliver Wolcott, born in 1726, who served as a general during the American Revolutionary War and later became the second United States Secretary of the Treasury under President George Washington.
In the 19th century, Wolcott Gibbs, born in 1822, was a renowned American chemist and academic who made significant contributions to the field of analytical chemistry. He is best known for developing the Gibbs reagent, which is still widely used in chemical analysis today.
The name Wolcott has also been associated with the literary world. Wolcott Balestier, born in 1861, was an American writer and publisher who co-founded the influential literary magazine The Candid Friend.
While the name Wolcott has its origins in England, it has been embraced by various cultures around the world. For instance, in the 20th century, Wolcott Gibbs Jr., born in 1902, was a renowned American theater critic and satirist who worked for The New Yorker magazine.
People
Wolcott + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wolcott 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
Wolcott: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wolcott?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 0 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wolcott 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 - US residents.
Is Wolcott a common name?
We classify Wolcott as "Very Rare". It ranks above 2.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wolcott most popular?
The single biggest year for Wolcott was 1923, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wolcott is about 0 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Wolcott in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wolcott a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wolcott 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 Wolcott still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wolcott 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 Wolcott 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are called Wolcott?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.