Author
One who originates or gives existence to literary or artistic works.
Name Census estimates that about 737 living Americans carry the first name Author. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Author today is around 72 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Author births was 1933 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Author. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Author is about 72 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Authors were born before 1964.
People living today
737
~ 1 in 465,067 Americans
Peak year
1933
59 babies that year
Average age
72
years old
1995 SSA rank
#8,984
Tracked since 1880
Census
Author in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 726 people with the first name Author, which placed it at #15,745 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
#15,745
National first-name rank
People counted
726
726 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
52.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Author
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Author is Black at 52.6%. The next largest groups are White (33.9%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Author 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 Author at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American52.6% · 382
- White33.9% · 246
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 57
- Two or more races3.3% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 7
Popularity
Author: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Author from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 452 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Author 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 Author during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Authors live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Author, while Virginia, Arkansas, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 77 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Author
The name Author is an English word derived from the Latin word "auctor", which means "creator", "founder", or "writer". This name has its origins in the late Middle Ages, around the 15th century, when the concept of authorship and literary creation gained significance with the rise of printing and the proliferation of books.
Author was initially used as a title or occupation rather than a given name. The earliest recorded instances of Author as a first name date back to the 17th century, when it was occasionally bestowed upon children, perhaps as a nod to the literary aspirations of their parents or as a symbolic gesture of the family's appreciation for the arts and intellectual pursuits.
One of the earliest documented individuals with the first name Author was Author Hawkins, an English clergyman and writer born in 1608. He published several religious works, including a book titled "The Portraiture of Mercy and Judgement" in 1637. Another notable figure was Author Philips, an English poet and playwright born in 1669, known for his pastorals and translations of classical works.
In the 18th century, Author Duclos (1703-1772), a French novelist and playwright, gained recognition for his satirical works and is considered one of the first authors to depict the French middle class in his writings. Author Radziwill (1718-1790), a Polish–Lithuanian prince and author, is remembered for his memoirs and historical writings, which provided valuable insights into the political and cultural landscape of his time.
During the 19th century, the name Author gained some popularity, particularly in literary circles. Author Trollope (1815-1882), an English novelist, is renowned for his chronicles of the fictional county of Barsetshire and his depictions of the gentry and the Church of England. Author Hugo (1828-1895), a French poet and novelist, is celebrated for his literary masterpieces such as "Les Misérables" and "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame".
While not a common name, Author has continued to be used sporadically throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, often bestowed upon individuals with a strong connection to the literary or academic world. Author Williams (1905-1994), an American playwright and novelist, is best known for his works such as "The Glass Menagerie" and "A Streetcar Named Desire".
People
Author + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Author 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
Author: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Author?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 737 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Author 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 465,067 US residents.
Is Author a common name?
We classify Author as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,173 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Author most popular?
The single biggest year for Author was 1933, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Author is about 72 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Author in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 726 people with the name Author, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,745 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 Author 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 Author?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Author leans strongly male. 720 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 9 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 Author?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Author is Black at 52.6%. The next largest groups are White (33.9%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Author most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Author in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.6% (382 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 Author in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Author a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Author 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 Author still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Author 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 Author 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 Author?
See how many people share the name Author on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.