Albert
Germanic name meaning "noble" or "bright".
Name Census estimates that about 190,300 living Americans carry the first name Albert. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Albert today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Albert births was 1921 (10,204 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Albert. 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 Albert with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Albert is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 2,559 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Albert have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
190K
~ 1 in 1,801 Americans
Peak year
1921
10,204 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
2024 SSA rank
#606
Tracked since 1880
Census
Albert in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 192,226 people with the first name Albert, which placed it at #289 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
#289
National first-name rank
People counted
192K
192,226 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
63.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Albert
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Albert is White at 56.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.0%) and Black (15.9%). 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 Albert 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 Albert at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.0% · 107,562
- Hispanic or Latino19.0% · 36,614
- Black or African American15.9% · 30,549
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.1% · 11,705
- Two or more races2.1% · 3,944
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 1,852
Gender
Gender distribution for Albert
Out of the 493,950 babies given the name Albert since 1880, 99.5% 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.
Albert as a male name
- Ranked #606 in 2024
- 467 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1921 (10,158 births)
Albert as a female name
- Ranked #14,237 in 2004
- 6 female births in 2004
- Peak: 1927 (82 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Albert appears almost entirely male. Of the 192,229 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Albert: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Albert 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 94,972 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
Albert 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 Albert during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 14,375 | 54 | 14,429 |
| 1890s | 13,753 | 97 | 13,850 |
| 1900s | 15,318 | 84 | 15,402 |
| 1910s | 68,207 | 284 | 68,491 |
| 1920s | 94,432 | 540 | 94,972 |
| 1930s | 62,827 | 359 | 63,186 |
| 1940s | 60,276 | 283 | 60,559 |
| 1950s | 52,835 | 254 | 53,089 |
| 1960s | 36,376 | 207 | 36,583 |
| 1970s | 22,111 | 206 | 22,317 |
| 1980s | 18,502 | 131 | 18,633 |
| 1990s | 13,933 | 54 | 13,987 |
| 2000s | 9,107 | 6 | 9,113 |
| 2010s | 6,880 | 0 | 6,880 |
| 2020s | 2,459 | 0 | 2,459 |
Geography
Where Alberts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Albert, while Alaska, Nevada, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8,752 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Albert
The name Albert has its roots in the Germanic language and culture, originating from the Old High German name Adalbrecht, which was derived from the words "adal" meaning "noble" and "beraht" meaning "bright" or "shining." The name gained popularity in medieval Europe and was widely used in various regions, particularly in Germanic-speaking areas.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Albert can be found in the 8th century, when it was mentioned in the Annales Regni Francorum, a contemporary account of the Carolingian dynasty in the Frankish Kingdom. The name was borne by several prominent figures during this period, including Albertus Magnus, a renowned philosopher and theologian who lived from 1193 to 1280.
In the 11th century, the name gained further significance with the rise of Albertus von Bollstädt, commonly known as Albert the Great, a highly influential Dominican friar and scholar who made significant contributions to the fields of natural science, logic, and theology. He lived from 1193 to 1280 and his works had a profound impact on the intellectual landscape of the time.
The name Albert also appeared in various religious texts and historical records throughout the Middle Ages. One notable example is Albert I of Germany, who reigned as the Holy Roman Emperor from 1298 to 1308. His rule was marked by his efforts to consolidate imperial power and resolve conflicts within the Holy Roman Empire.
During the Renaissance period, the name gained further prominence with figures such as Albrecht Dürer, the renowned German painter, printmaker, and theorist who lived from 1471 to 1528. His artistic achievements and contributions to the development of Renaissance art have cemented his place in history.
Another notable figure bearing the name Albert was Albert Einstein, the world-renowned physicist who revolutionized our understanding of the universe with his theories of relativity. Born in 1879 and lived until 1955, Einstein's groundbreaking work has had a profound impact on modern physics and our perception of space, time, and the nature of the cosmos.
Throughout history, the name Albert has been borne by numerous other influential individuals, including Albert Camus, the French philosopher and author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957; Albert Schweitzer, the German-French theologian, philosopher, and physician who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952; and Albert Speer, the German architect and minister of armaments for Nazi Germany during World War II.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Albert
People
Albert + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Albert 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
Albert: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Albert?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 190,300 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Albert 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 1,801 US residents.
Is Albert a common name?
We classify Albert 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, 493,950 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Albert most popular?
The single biggest year for Albert was 1921, when 10,204 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Albert is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Albert in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 192,226 people with the name Albert, or 63.64 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #289 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 Albert 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 Albert?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Albert appears almost entirely male. Of the 192,229 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Albert?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Albert is White at 56.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.0%) and Black (15.9%). 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 Albert most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Albert in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.0% (107,562 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 Albert in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Albert a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Albert 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 Albert still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Albert 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 Albert 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 Albert as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.