Ady
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "delicate and ornamental".
Name Census estimates that about 160 living Americans carry the first name Ady. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ady today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ady births was 2012 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ady. 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 Ady with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
160
~ 1 in 2,142,215 Americans
Peak year
2012
14 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2023 SSA rank
#15,225
Tracked since 1999
Census
Ady in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 668 people with the first name Ady, which placed it at #16,760 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
#16,760
National first-name rank
People counted
668
668 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
53.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ady
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ady is Hispanic at 53.9%. The next largest groups are White (32.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.8%). 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 Ady 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 Ady at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino53.9% · 360
- White32.0% · 214
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.8% · 52
- Black or African American4.5% · 30
- Two or more races1.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 4
Popularity
Ady: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ady from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 72 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ady 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 Ady during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ady
The name Ady is believed to have originated from the Hungarian language, with its roots traced back to the medieval period. It is thought to be a diminutive form or a nickname derived from the Germanic name Adalbert, which means "noble" and "bright."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ady can be found in the 11th century, during the reign of King Endre I of Hungary (1046-1060). Historical records mention a nobleman named Ady who served as a trusted advisor to the king.
In the 13th century, a prominent figure named Ady de Széchenyi emerged as a Hungarian nobleman and military commander. He played a crucial role in defending the Kingdom of Hungary against Mongol invasions during the reign of King Béla IV (1235-1270).
The name Ady gained further significance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the rise of Endre Ady (1877-1919), one of the most influential Hungarian poets and literary figures of his time. His works were instrumental in shaping modern Hungarian literature and inspired generations of writers.
Another notable individual with the name Ady was Ady Endre Pruteanu (1905-1981), a Romanian-born American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his novel "The Great Day" (1941), which depicted the lives of Romanian immigrants in the United States.
In the realm of sports, Ady Endre Szenkovits (1923-2008) was a Hungarian-born American water polo player who competed in the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal with the U.S. team in 1952.
While the name Ady is primarily associated with Hungarian and Eastern European cultures, it has also been adopted in various forms across different regions, reflecting the diverse cultural influences and migrations throughout history.
People
Ady + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ady 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
Ady: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ady?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 160 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ady 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 2,142,215 US residents.
Is Ady a common name?
We classify Ady as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 162 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ady most popular?
The single biggest year for Ady was 2012, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ady is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ady in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 668 people with the name Ady, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,760 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 Ady 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 Ady?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ady leans strongly female. 532 people counted with this name were female (80.4%), compared with 130 male bearers (19.6%). 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 Ady?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ady is Hispanic at 53.9%. The next largest groups are White (32.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.8%). 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 Ady most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Ady in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.9% (360 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 Ady in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ady a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ady 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 Ady still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ady 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 Ady 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 Ady as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.