Anouk
A French feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace".
Name Census estimates that about 375 living Americans carry the first name Anouk. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Anouk today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anouk births was 2007 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anouk. 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 Anouk with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
375
~ 1 in 914,012 Americans
Peak year
2007
28 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,588
Tracked since 1969
Census
Anouk in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 480 people with the first name Anouk, which placed it at #21,231 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
#21,231
National first-name rank
People counted
480
480 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anouk
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anouk is White at 61.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.2%) and Two or More Races (10.2%). 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 Anouk 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 Anouk at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.9% · 297
- Hispanic or Latino15.2% · 73
- Two or more races10.2% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.7% · 32
- Black or African American5.0% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 5
Popularity
Anouk: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anouk from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 157 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anouk 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 Anouk during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Anouks live
Origin
Meaning and history of Anouk
Anouk is a feminine given name with its origins traced back to the Dutch and French languages. The name is derived from the Old German word "anu," which means grace or favor.
In the Netherlands and Belgium, the name Anouk has been in use since the Middle Ages, with some of the earliest recorded instances dating back to the 13th century. It was initially a diminutive or nickname for names like Anna or Johanna.
The name gained wider popularity in France during the 20th century, particularly after the fame of French actress Anouk Aimée, who was born in 1932. Aimée's real name was Françoise Dreux, but she adopted the stage name Anouk, which helped to popularize the name.
Another notable figure with the name Anouk was Anouk Grinberg, a French writer and philosopher who lived from 1963 to 2005. She was known for her works exploring feminist theory and cultural studies.
In the world of music, Anouk Teeuwe, better known by her mononym Anouk, is a Dutch singer-songwriter born in 1975. She has had a successful career in the Netherlands and has won several awards for her music.
Anouk Lepère, born in 1985, is a Belgian model and actress who has appeared in numerous fashion campaigns and television shows. She is considered one of the most successful models from Belgium.
Historically, the name Anouk has been associated with beauty, grace, and elegance, reflecting its roots in the Old German word "anu." It has been embraced by various cultures and has gained international recognition due to the accomplishments of notable individuals bearing this name.
People
Anouk + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anouk 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
Anouk: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anouk?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 375 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anouk 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 914,012 US residents.
Is Anouk a common name?
We classify Anouk as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 381 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anouk most popular?
The single biggest year for Anouk was 2007, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anouk is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anouk in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 480 people with the name Anouk, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,231 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 Anouk 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 Anouk?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Anouk leans strongly female. 461 people counted with this name were female (97.7%), compared with 11 male bearers (2.3%). 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 Anouk?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anouk is White at 61.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.2%) and Two or More Races (10.2%). 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 Anouk most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Anouk in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.9% (297 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 Anouk in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anouk a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Anouk 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 Anouk still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anouk 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 Anouk 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 common is the name Anouk?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.