Addie
A feminine diminutive of the Germanic name Adelaide meaning "noble type".
Name Census estimates that about 12,103 living Americans carry the first name Addie. It is a predominantly female name (98.4% of registrations). The average person named Addie today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Addie births was 1920 (922 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Addie. 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 Addie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Addie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 718 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 28,320 Americans
Peak year
1920
922 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
1996 SSA rank
#1,312
Tracked since 1880
Census
Addie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,877 people with the first name Addie, which placed it at #1,988 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
#1,988
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
13,877 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Addie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Addie is White at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Black (24.5%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Addie 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 Addie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.5% · 9,090
- Black or African American24.5% · 3,403
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 602
- Two or more races3.5% · 480
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 185
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 117
Gender
Gender distribution for Addie
Addie leans heavily female at 98.4% of total registrations, but 718 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Addie as a male name
- Ranked #9,022 in 1996
- 5 male births in 1996
- Peak: 1927 (25 births)
Addie as a female name
- Ranked #1,312 in 2024
- 174 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (904 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Addie leans strongly female. 13,662 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 213 male bearers (1.5%).
Popularity
Addie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Addie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 7,580 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Addie 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 Addie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Addies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 39 states and territories. North Carolina, Georgia, Texas recorded the most babies named Addie, while Nevada, New Hampshire, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 697 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Addie
The name Addie is a diminutive form of the name Ada, derived from the Germanic root "ad", meaning "noble" or "prosperous". This name has its origins in medieval Europe, particularly in the regions of Germany and England.
In the 8th century, the name Ada was recorded in the Frankish royal lineage, where it was borne by a daughter of King Pepin the Short. The name gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in England, where it was favored by the Norman aristocracy.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Addie dates back to the 13th century, when it appeared in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire, England. It was often used as a diminutive form of Ada or Adelaide, both of which were popular names among the nobility.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Addie. One of the earliest examples is Addie Morgan Pendleton (1791-1862), an American educator and writer who established one of the first schools for girls in Ohio. Another prominent figure was Addie Wyatt (1924-2012), an American labor union leader and civil rights activist who fought for equal rights and job opportunities for women and minorities.
In the literary world, Addie Bundren is a central character in William Faulkner's novel "As I Lay Dying" (1930), which explores the journey of a family as they transport their matriarch's body to her desired burial place. The name Addie has also been associated with the arts, with Addie Criswell (1878-1961), an American actress and vaudeville performer, and Addie Graham Williams (1889-1959), an American folk artist known for her intricate quilts and embroidery.
The name Addie has also been borne by notable figures in the field of science, such as Addie Nathalie Polson (1889-1966), an American botanist and plant pathologist who made significant contributions to the study of fungi and plant diseases.
People
Addie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Addie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Addie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Addie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,103 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Addie 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 28,320 US residents.
Is Addie a common name?
We classify Addie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 45,901 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Addie most popular?
The single biggest year for Addie was 1920, when 922 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Addie is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Addie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,877 people with the name Addie, or 4.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,988 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 Addie 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 Addie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Addie leans strongly female. 13,662 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 213 male bearers (1.5%). 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 Addie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Addie is White at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Black (24.5%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Addie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Addie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.5% (9,090 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 Addie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Addie a female name?
Yes, 98.4% of people registered as Addie 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 Addie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Addie 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 Addie 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 named Addie?
Find out how many people share the name Addie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.