Austen
An English masculine name derived from the surname taken from a place name.
Name Census estimates that about 9,109 living Americans carry the first name Austen. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Austen today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Austen births was 1995 (567 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Austen. 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
9.1K
~ 1 in 37,628 Americans
Peak year
1995
567 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,982
Tracked since 1917
Gender
Gender distribution for Austen
Austen leans heavily male at 86.6% of total registrations, but 1,247 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Austen as a male name
- Ranked #1,982 in 2024
- 78 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (540 births)
Austen as a female name
- Ranked #2,965 in 2024
- 55 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (92 births)
Popularity
Austen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Austen from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 3,932 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Austen 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 Austen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Austens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Austen, while North Dakota, Connecticut, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 160 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Austen
The name Austen has its origins in the Old English language and is derived from the word "Æðelstan," which means "noble stone." It is a compound name, with "Æðel" meaning "noble" and "stan" meaning "stone."
The earliest recorded use of the name Austen can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon period in England, between the 5th and 11th centuries. It was a popular name among the Anglo-Saxon nobility and was often given to sons of noble families.
One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Austen, a monk who lived in the 7th century and is mentioned in the Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Another notable figure was Austen of Canterbury, who served as the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1091 to 1109.
During the Middle Ages, the name Austen continued to be used, particularly in England. It is recorded in various historical documents and records from this period, such as the Domesday Book, which was compiled in 1086.
In the 16th century, the name gained further prominence with the birth of Austen Friars, an English Protestant reformer and martyr who was executed in 1555 during the reign of Queen Mary I. Another notable figure from this era was Austen Leigh, a 17th-century English writer and biographer, who was born in 1629.
The 18th century saw the rise of one of the most famous individuals with the name Austen: Jane Austen, the renowned English novelist, who was born in 1775 and is best known for her novels such as "Pride and Prejudice," "Sense and Sensibility," and "Emma."
Other notable individuals with the name Austen include Austen Henry Layard, a 19th-century English archaeologist and diplomat who was born in 1817; Austen Chamberlain, a British statesman and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was born in 1863; and Austen St. Barbe, a 20th-century English cricketer who played for Somerset County Cricket Club and was born in 1890.
While the name Austen has its roots in Old English and has been used throughout history, it has also gained popularity in modern times, particularly due to the enduring influence and popularity of Jane Austen's literary works.
People
Austen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Austen 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
Austen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Austen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,109 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Austen 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 37,628 US residents.
Is Austen a common name?
We classify Austen as "Rare". It ranks above 97.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,316 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Austen most popular?
The single biggest year for Austen was 1995, when 567 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Austen is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Austen a male name?
Yes, 86.6% of people registered as Austen 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.
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.