Joseph Gordon
There are approximately 929 people named Joseph Gordon living in the United States today. That makes this name combination very rare, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 368,950 Americans.
This estimate combines SSA birth records for the first name Joseph with Census Bureau frequency data for the surname Gordon. Below you will find a breakdown of both names, including popularity trends, gender data, and Census demographics where available.
Expected bearers
929
1 in 368,950
Named Joseph
1.8M
Alive today
Named Gordon
181K
Alive today
US population
343M
Denominator
Estimated living: 1.8M
Rarity: Very Common
Gender: Male
Peak year: 1956
Average age: 47
Top Census group: White (76.8%)
Estimated bearers: 181K
Rarity: Common
Census rank: #163
Per 100K: 52.86
Top ancestry: White (61.0%)
First name trend
Joseph: popularity over time
Year-by-year SSA birth registrations for the first name Joseph. The peak year was 1956 with 32,831 births. The average person named Joseph today is 47 years old.
Babies born per year
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joseph
Self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people with the first name Joseph, from the 2020 US Census Bureau first-name tables. The largest published group is White at 76.8%.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Joseph described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. These are self-reported numbers, and they describe the population who happened to carry the name Joseph at the time of the Census. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity.
- White76.8% · 1,230,026
- Hispanic or Latino10.4% · 166,277
- Black or African American7.1% · 113,383
- Two or more races2.7% · 43,677
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 37,503
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 9,798
Ethnicity
Ancestry of the Gordon surname
Self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people with the surname Gordon, from the 2020 US Census Bureau. The largest group is White at 61.0%.
The bar chart below shows how people with the surname Gordon described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. These are self-reported numbers, and they describe the population who happened to carry the surname Gordon at the time of the Census. A surname does not determine a person's race or ethnicity.
- White61.0% · 96,294
- Black or African American29.2% · 46,070
- Two or more races4.3% · 6,861
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 6,483
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 1,248
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1,029
Methodology
How we calculated this
The first name Joseph has a living-bearer frequency of 0.5130% of the US population, based on 1,758,265 estimated living Americans carrying this first name (from SSA birth records going back to 1880, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables).
Even though the Census Bureau now publishes first-name tables, we do not use that file as the main first-name input for this estimate. The latest first-name Census snapshot is from 2020, which makes it 6 years old today. Because Census first-name data is only released once every 10 years, SSA birth records plus CDC survival rates give a better current estimate of how many people are likely alive with the name Joseph right now.
The surname Gordon appears at a rate of 52.86 per 100,000 residents in the 2020 Census Bureau surname file, which translates to a frequency of 0.0529%.
Multiplying these two independent frequencies against the current US population of 342,754,338 gives an expected count of approximately 929 people with the full name Joseph Gordon. This assumes statistical independence between first and last names, which is a simplification but produces reasonable estimates for most combinations.
Related
Other people named Joseph
Related
Other people with the surname Gordon
FAQ
Joseph Gordon: questions and answers
How many people are named Joseph Gordon?
We estimate approximately 929 people in the United States share the full name Joseph Gordon. That works out to about 1 in 368,950 Americans. This is calculated by combining the first-name frequency (0.5130%) with the surname frequency (52.86 per 100K) against the current US population.
How rare is the name Joseph Gordon?
We classify Joseph Gordon as "Very Rare". About 1 in 368,950 Americans share this exact first and last name combination.
Is Joseph a male or female name?
Joseph is predominantly male. Out of 2,672,746 total SSA registrations, 99.6% were male and 0.4% were female. See the full Joseph profile for detailed gender data.
Where does this data come from?
First-name data comes from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files (1880 to 2024). Surname data comes from the 2020 US Census Bureau decennial surname tables. Living-bearer estimates use CDC actuarial life tables to adjust for mortality. Read the full methodology.
How common is the name Joseph Gordon?
Want to know how common the name Joseph Gordon is? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.