Audrey
Noble-strength; meaning power or strength in Old English.
Name Census estimates that about 197,112 living Americans carry the first name Audrey. It sits at #82 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Audrey today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Audrey births was 2015 (5,627 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Theodore (197,010).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Audrey. 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 Audrey with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Audrey is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 2,928 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
197K
~ 1 in 1,739 Americans
Peak year
2015
5,627 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2023 SSA rank
#82
Tracked since 1881
Census
Audrey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 198,827 people with the first name Audrey, which placed it at #280 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
#280
National first-name rank
People counted
199K
198,827 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
65.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Audrey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Audrey is White at 71.2%. The next largest groups are Black (10.3%) and Hispanic (9.1%). 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 Audrey 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 Audrey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.2% · 141,530
- Black or African American10.3% · 20,404
- Hispanic or Latino9.1% · 18,118
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 8,804
- Two or more races4.3% · 8,648
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1,323
Gender
Gender distribution for Audrey
Out of the 305,866 babies given the name Audrey since 1880, 99.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Audrey as a male name
- Ranked #10,952 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1921 (74 births)
Audrey as a female name
- Ranked #82 in 2024
- 2,993 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (5,613 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Audrey appears almost entirely female. Of the 198,826 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Audrey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Audrey from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 51,695 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Audrey remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Audrey 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 Audrey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Audreys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Audrey, while Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5,845 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Audrey
The name Audrey has its origins in the Germanic and Anglo-Saxon languages, derived from the Old English word "ead" meaning prosperous or fortunate. It was originally a masculine name before evolving into a feminine given name. The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 7th century.
In medieval times, Audrey was a popular name among the English aristocracy. One notable bearer was St. Audrey, also known as St. Etheldreda, an Anglo-Saxon princess who lived in the 7th century and founded the monastery of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Her name gained reverence and was adopted by many women during the Middle Ages.
During the Renaissance period, the name Audrey gained further popularity in England and France. One of the earliest recorded examples is Audrey Walsingham, an English courtier and spy who lived during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century.
In literature, the name Audrey appears in William Shakespeare's play "As You Like It," where it is given to a rustic character. This literary reference contributed to the name's enduring appeal and helped it maintain its usage over the centuries.
Notable historical figures named Audrey include Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993), the beloved British actress and fashion icon known for her roles in films such as "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Roman Holiday." Another famous Audrey was Audrey Wood (1905-1995), an American aviator and aviation pioneer who set several records for long-distance flights in the 1930s and 1940s.
In the medieval period, Audrey of Brittany (1050-1115) was a Countess of Brittany and a prominent figure in the Norman conquest of England. Audrey Munson (1891-1996) was an American artist's model and actress who posed for numerous sculptures and monuments in the early 20th century.
Audrey Lorde (1934-1992) was an influential American writer, feminist, and civil rights activist whose works explored intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. Her poetry and essays made significant contributions to the literary canon and social movements of her time.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Audrey
People
Audrey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Audrey 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
Audrey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Audrey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 197,112 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Audrey 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 1,739 US residents.
Is Audrey a common name?
We classify Audrey 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, 305,866 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Audrey most popular?
The single biggest year for Audrey was 2015, when 5,627 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Audrey is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Audrey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 198,827 people with the name Audrey, or 65.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #280 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 Audrey 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 Audrey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Audrey appears almost entirely female. Of the 198,826 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Audrey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Audrey is White at 71.2%. The next largest groups are Black (10.3%) and Hispanic (9.1%). 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 Audrey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Audrey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.2% (141,530 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 Audrey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Audrey a female name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Audrey 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 Audrey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Audrey 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 Audrey 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 Audrey?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.