Ashe
A masculine name derived from the ash tree or "ashen" meaning ash-colored.
Name Census estimates that about 523 living Americans carry the first name Ashe. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 63.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Ashe today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ashe births was 2021 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ashe. 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
523
~ 1 in 655,362 Americans
Peak year
2021
45 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,665
Tracked since 1993
Census
Ashe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 532 people with the first name Ashe, which placed it at #19,726 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
#19,726
National first-name rank
People counted
532
532 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ashe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ashe is White at 55.1%. The next largest groups are Black (25.0%) and Hispanic (8.8%). 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 Ashe 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 Ashe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.1% · 293
- Black or African American25.0% · 133
- Hispanic or Latino8.8% · 47
- Two or more races7.7% · 41
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Ashe
Ashe is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 528 total registrations, 336 (63.6%) were male and 192 (36.4%) were female.
Ashe as a male name
- Ranked #5,665 in 2024
- 16 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (27 births)
Ashe as a female name
- Ranked #6,946 in 2024
- 16 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (24 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ashe on both sides of the split. Of the 537 people counted with this name, 314 were male (58.5%) and 223 were female (41.5%).
Popularity
Ashe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ashe from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 200 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ashe 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 Ashe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ashes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ashe
The name Ashe has its origins in the Old English language and can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain. It is derived from the Old English word "æsc," which means ash tree. The ash tree held significant cultural and mythological significance for the ancient Germanic tribes, including the Anglo-Saxons, and was often associated with concepts of strength, resilience, and world-tree symbolism.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ashe can be found in the Domesday Book, a record of land holdings and population surveys conducted in England in 1086 under the reign of William the Conqueror. The name appears as a place name in various locations, such as Ashe in Hampshire and Ashe in Derbyshire, suggesting its use as a surname and possibly a given name during that period.
In the Middle Ages, the name Ashe gained some prominence due to its association with the noble Ashe family, who held lands and titles in various parts of England. One notable member of this family was Sir James Ashe (c. 1335-1399), a prominent military commander and knight who served under King Edward III during the Hundred Years' War.
The name Ashe also has connections to religious and literary works. In the 14th century, the English poet and author Geoffrey Chaucer mentioned an "Ashe" in his famous work "The Canterbury Tales." Additionally, the name appears in various biblical translations and commentaries, potentially linked to its association with the ash tree, which is mentioned in various passages of the Bible.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ashe. One of the most famous is Arthur Ashe (1943-1993), an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam titles and was also a prominent civil rights activist. Another notable figure is Thomas Ashe (1885-1917), an Irish republican revolutionary who played a significant role in the Irish War of Independence.
Other individuals with the name Ashe include Elias Ashe (1770-1838), a U.S. Representative from North Carolina; Thomas Samuel Ashe (1812-1887), an English author and novelist; and Brigadier General Ashe (1742-1813), an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
People
Ashe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ashe 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
Ashe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ashe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 523 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ashe 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 655,362 US residents.
Is Ashe a common name?
We classify Ashe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 528 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ashe most popular?
The single biggest year for Ashe was 2021, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ashe is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ashe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 532 people with the name Ashe, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,726 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 Ashe 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 Ashe?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ashe on both sides of the split. Of the 537 people counted with this name, 314 were male (58.5%) and 223 were female (41.5%). 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 Ashe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ashe is White at 55.1%. The next largest groups are Black (25.0%) and Hispanic (8.8%). 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 Ashe most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ashe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.1% (293 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 Ashe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ashe a male name?
Yes, 63.6% of people registered as Ashe 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 Ashe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ashe 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 Ashe 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 Ashe?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Ashe at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.