Andy
A masculine diminutive of Andrew of Greek origin, meaning "manly".
Name Census estimates that about 79,845 living Americans carry the first name Andy. It sits at #488 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (98.7% of registrations). The average person named Andy today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Andy births was 2005 (1,946 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Andy. 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 Andy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Andy is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,276 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
80K
~ 1 in 4,293 Americans
Peak year
2005
1,946 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2024 SSA rank
#488
Tracked since 1880
Census
Andy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 91,634 people with the first name Andy, which placed it at #582 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
#582
National first-name rank
People counted
92K
91,634 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
30.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Andy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Andy is White at 40.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (21.0%). 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 Andy 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 Andy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.2% · 36,829
- Hispanic or Latino32.8% · 30,017
- Asian and Pacific Islander21.0% · 19,280
- Black or African American3.9% · 3,617
- Two or more races1.5% · 1,345
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 546
Gender
Gender distribution for Andy
Andy leans heavily male at 98.7% of total registrations, but 1,276 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Andy as a male name
- Ranked #488 in 2024
- 628 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2005 (1,931 births)
Andy as a female name
- Ranked #4,375 in 2024
- 32 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (42 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Andy leans strongly male. 90,123 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 1,510 female bearers (1.6%).
Popularity
Andy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Andy from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 17,985 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
Andy 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 Andy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Andys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Andy, while Vermont, New Hampshire, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,732 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Andy
The given name Andy is a diminutive form of the Greek name Andreas, which originated from the word "aner" meaning man. It is derived from the Ancient Greek word "andros," meaning manly or virile. The name Andreas has been in use since the 4th century BC and was popular among early Christians, as it was the name of one of the Twelve Apostles, St. Andrew.
Andy gained popularity as a diminutive form of Andrew in the English-speaking world during the Middle Ages. It was commonly used as a nickname or pet name for those named Andrew. The earliest recorded use of Andy as a standalone name can be traced back to the 16th century in Scotland.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Andy was Andy Milne, a Scottish poet and writer who lived from 1637 to 1667. He is best known for his satirical works and his contributions to the Scottish Renaissance.
Another famous Andy in history was Andy Warhol, the iconic American artist, filmmaker, and leading figure in the pop art movement. He was born in 1928 and passed away in 1987. Warhol's art and cultural influence were significant, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.
In the world of sports, Andy Murray, the Scottish professional tennis player, has made a name for himself. Born in 1987, Murray has won three Grand Slam titles and two Olympic gold medals in his career. He was also the World No. 1 in men's singles tennis for 41 weeks.
Andy Gibb, the youngest member of the famous Bee Gees musical group, was a successful solo artist in the late 1970s. He was born in 1958 and died tragically at the age of 30 in 1988. Some of his hit songs include "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" and "Shadow Dancing."
In the literary world, Andy Weir, an American novelist and software engineer, gained widespread recognition for his debut novel "The Martian," published in 2011. The book was adapted into a critically acclaimed film in 2015, starring Matt Damon.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Andy
People
Andy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Andy 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
Andy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Andy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 79,845 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Andy 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 4,293 US residents.
Is Andy a common name?
We classify Andy as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 94,920 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Andy most popular?
The single biggest year for Andy was 2005, when 1,946 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Andy is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Andy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 91,634 people with the name Andy, or 30.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #582 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 Andy 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 Andy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Andy leans strongly male. 90,123 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 1,510 female bearers (1.6%). 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 Andy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Andy is White at 40.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (21.0%). 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 Andy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Andy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.2% (36,829 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 Andy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Andy a male name?
Yes, 98.7% of people registered as Andy 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 Andy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Andy 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 Andy 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 share the name Andy?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.