Wyatt
Hardy or brave little warrior, from the Old English name Wygæ.
Roughly 198,761 people in the United States go by the first name Wyatt, which ranks #38 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Wyatt today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wyatt births was 2017 (9,833 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Jared (198,612).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wyatt. 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 Wyatt with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Wyatt is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,217 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Wyatt 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
199K
~ 1 in 1,724 Americans
Peak year
2017
9,833 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#38
Tracked since 1880
Census
Wyatt in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 152,061 people with the first name Wyatt, which placed it at #367 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
#367
National first-name rank
People counted
152K
152,061 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
50.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wyatt
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wyatt is White at 87.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.1%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Wyatt 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 Wyatt at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.1% · 132,375
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 7,824
- Two or more races4.8% · 7,347
- Black or African American1.2% · 1,855
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 1,583
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 1,077
Gender
Gender distribution for Wyatt
Out of the 203,133 babies given the name Wyatt since 1880, 99.4% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Wyatt as a male name
- Ranked #38 in 2024
- 6,581 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (9,726 births)
Wyatt as a female name
- Ranked #1,194 in 2024
- 198 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (198 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wyatt appears almost entirely male. Of the 152,059 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Wyatt: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wyatt from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 88,247 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Wyatt remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wyatt 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 Wyatt during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wyatts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Wyatt, while District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,887 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wyatt
The name Wyatt has its origins in the Old English language and is derived from the elements "wic" meaning village or dwelling, and "geat" meaning gate or road. It likely originated as a surname referring to someone who lived near the gate or entrance to a village.
The earliest recorded use of the name Wyatt dates back to the 11th century in England. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Wyatt Earp, the famous American Old West lawman and gambler who lived from 1848 to 1929. He played a prominent role in the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona in 1881.
Another notable Wyatt in history was Wyatt Tee Walker, an American minister, civil rights leader, and chief of staff for Martin Luther King Jr. He played a crucial role in the Civil Rights Movement and was born in 1928, passing away in 2018.
The name also has literary connections, with Sir Thomas Wyatt being a renowned English poet and ambassador who lived from 1503 to 1542. He is credited with introducing the sonnet form to English literature and was a key figure in the English Renaissance.
In the realm of sports, Wyatt Tee Walker, a Canadian ice hockey player, made a name for himself in the early 20th century. He played for various teams in the National Hockey Association and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association between 1911 and 1926.
Another prominent figure with the name Wyatt was Wyatt Walker Earp, a lesser-known cousin of the famous Wyatt Earp. He was a rancher and lawman in the American West during the late 19th century, and his life was intertwined with the events surrounding his more famous relative.
The name Wyatt has remained a popular choice over the centuries, evoking a sense of strength, determination, and historical significance. Its enduring usage reflects the rich tapestry of cultural and linguistic influences that have shaped the English language and the naming traditions of the Western world.
People
Wyatt + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wyatt 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
Wyatt: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wyatt?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 198,761 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wyatt 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 1,724 US residents.
Is Wyatt a common name?
We classify Wyatt as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 203,133 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wyatt most popular?
The single biggest year for Wyatt was 2017, when 9,833 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wyatt 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 Wyatt in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 152,061 people with the name Wyatt, or 50.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #367 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 Wyatt 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 Wyatt?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wyatt appears almost entirely male. Of the 152,059 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Wyatt?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wyatt is White at 87.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.1%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Wyatt most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wyatt in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.1% (132,375 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 Wyatt in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wyatt a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Wyatt 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 Wyatt still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wyatt 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 Wyatt 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 Wyatt as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Wyatt on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.