Antowan
A masculine given name of French and Arabic origin meaning "highly praised."
Name Census estimates that about 114 living Americans carry the first name Antowan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Antowan today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Antowan births was 1978 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Antowan. 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.
People living today
114
~ 1 in 3,006,617 Americans
Peak year
1978
10 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2008 SSA rank
#12,672
Tracked since 1973
Census
Antowan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 132 people with the first name Antowan, which placed it at #48,390 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
#48,390
National first-name rank
People counted
132
132 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
83.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Antowan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Antowan is Black at 83.3%. The next largest groups are White (8.3%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Antowan 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 Antowan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American83.3% · 110
- White8.3% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 5
- Two or more races3.8% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 1
Popularity
Antowan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Antowan from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 48 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Antowan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Antowan 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 Antowan 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 Antowan
The name Antowan is a variant spelling of the French name Antoine, which ultimately derives from the Roman name Antonius. The origin of Antonius can be traced back to the ancient Roman family name Antonii, which may have been derived from the Greek word "anty," meaning "priceless" or "incomparable."
The name Antonius was borne by several notable figures in ancient Roman history, including the Roman general and politician Mark Antony, who lived from 83 BC to 30 BC. He was a key figure in the Roman Republic and a member of the Second Triumvirate alongside Octavian and Lepidus.
Another famous bearer of the name Antonius was the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius, who reigned from 138 AD to 161 AD. He was known for his just and benevolent rule, and his reign marked a period of peace and prosperity in the Roman Empire.
The name Antoine became popular in France during the Middle Ages, and it was often bestowed upon members of the nobility and the upper classes. One notable historical figure who bore the name Antoine was Antoine de Navarre, also known as Antoine de Bourbon, who lived from 1518 to 1562. He was the King of Navarre and a prominent leader of the French Protestants during the French Wars of Religion.
Another famous bearer of the name Antoine was the French writer and philosopher Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who lived from 1900 to 1944. He is best known for his novella "The Little Prince," which has become a beloved classic of children's literature.
The variant spelling Antowan emerged in English-speaking countries, likely as a result of the influence of French and other Romance languages. One notable bearer of this spelling was Antowan Walker, an American professional basketball player who was born in 1981 and played in the NBA for several teams, including the Miami Heat and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
People
Antowan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Antowan 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
Antowan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Antowan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 114 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Antowan 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 3,006,617 US residents.
Is Antowan a common name?
We classify Antowan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 119 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Antowan most popular?
The single biggest year for Antowan was 1978, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Antowan is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Antowan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 132 people with the name Antowan, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #48,390 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 Antowan 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 Antowan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Antowan appears almost entirely male. Of the 126 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Antowan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Antowan is Black at 83.3%. The next largest groups are White (8.3%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Antowan most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Antowan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.3% (110 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 Antowan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Antowan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Antowan 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 Antowan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Antowan 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 Antowan 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 Americans are named Antowan?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.