Austin
A masculine name derived from the Latin name Augustine, meaning "venerable" or "great".
Name Census estimates that about 418,816 living Americans carry the first name Austin. It sits at #107 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (98.7% of registrations). The average person named Austin today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Austin births was 1995 (26,079 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Austin. 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 Austin with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Austin is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 5,570 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
419K
~ 1 in 818 Americans
Peak year
1995
26,079 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#107
Tracked since 1880
Census
Austin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 362,147 people with the first name Austin, which placed it at #136 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
#136
National first-name rank
People counted
362K
362,147 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
119.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Austin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Austin is White at 80.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.2%) and Two or More Races (4.5%). 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 Austin 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 Austin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.7% · 292,091
- Hispanic or Latino7.2% · 26,067
- Two or more races4.5% · 16,214
- Black or African American4.1% · 14,960
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 10,036
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 2,779
Gender
Gender distribution for Austin
Austin leans heavily male at 98.7% of total registrations, but 5,570 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Austin as a male name
- Ranked #107 in 2024
- 3,290 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (25,907 births)
Austin as a female name
- Ranked #1,725 in 2024
- 117 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1994 (228 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Austin leans strongly male. 357,880 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 4,274 female bearers (1.2%).
Popularity
Austin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Austin from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 191,669 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
Austin 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 Austin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Austins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Austin, while District of Columbia, Vermont, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8,483 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Austin
The name Austin has its origins in the Late Latin name Augustinus, which was derived from the Roman name Augustus. The name Augustus was first adopted by the Roman emperor Gaius Octavianus, who was given the title Augustus by the Roman Senate in 27 BC. The name Augustus comes from the Latin word "augustus" meaning "venerable" or "consecrated".
The name Augustinus was first popularized by St. Augustine of Hippo, a philosopher and theologian who lived from 354 to 430 AD. He is considered one of the most influential figures in the development of Western Christianity and his writings had a significant impact on the philosophical and religious thought of the Middle Ages.
The name Austin is an English variant of the name Augustinus, which emerged during the Middle Ages. It was commonly used by the Augustinian religious order, which was founded in the 11th century and named after St. Augustine. The name became popular in England and other parts of Europe during the medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Austin can be found in the Domesday Book, a record of landholders in England compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The name appears as "Austinus" in this ancient document.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name Austin. Here are five examples:
1. St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) - The renowned philosopher, theologian, and author whose writings had a profound influence on the development of Western Christianity.
2. Austin Friars (13th century) - An order of mendicant friars founded in the 13th century, known for their austere way of life and dedication to poverty and preaching.
3. Austin de Bordeu (c. 1518-1590) - A French jurist and philosopher who wrote extensively on legal and political theory.
4. Austin the Poet (c. 1637-1674) - An English poet and playwright who was part of the literary circle surrounding Samuel Pepys.
5. Austin Phelps (1820-1890) - An American Congregational minister and educator who served as the president of Andover Theological Seminary and authored several influential works on homiletics and theology.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Austin
People
Austin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Austin 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
Austin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Austin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 418,816 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Austin 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 818 US residents.
Is Austin a common name?
We classify Austin as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 440,461 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Austin most popular?
The single biggest year for Austin was 1995, when 26,079 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Austin is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Austin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 362,147 people with the name Austin, or 119.90 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #136 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 Austin 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 Austin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Austin leans strongly male. 357,880 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 4,274 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Austin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Austin is White at 80.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.2%) and Two or More Races (4.5%). 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 Austin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Austin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.7% (292,091 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 Austin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Austin a male name?
Yes, 98.7% of people registered as Austin 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 Austin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Austin 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 Austin 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 Austin?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.