Autum
A feminine name derived from the Latin word "autumnus" meaning "fall season".
Name Census estimates that about 3,197 living Americans carry the first name Autum. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Autum today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Autum births was 1998 (146 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Autum. 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 Autum with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.2K
~ 1 in 107,211 Americans
Peak year
1998
146 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,609
Tracked since 1971
Census
Autum in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,294 people with the first name Autum, which placed it at #5,271 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
#5,271
National first-name rank
People counted
3.3K
3,294 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Autum
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Autum is White at 73.2%. The next largest groups are Black (10.5%) 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 Autum 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 Autum at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.2% · 2,411
- Black or African American10.5% · 347
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 261
- Two or more races5.7% · 188
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 59
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 28
Popularity
Autum: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Autum from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,056 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Autum 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 Autum during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Autums live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Autum, while North Carolina, Arizona, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 50 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Autum
The name Autum is derived from the Latin word "autumnus," which means "the season of autumn." This name has its roots in ancient Roman culture, where the changing seasons were celebrated and revered. The name is closely associated with the Fall equinox, a time of harvest, abundance, and the transition from summer to winter.
The earliest known reference to the name Autum can be traced back to the Roman poet Ovid, who lived from 43 BC to 17 AD. In his work "Metamorphoses," Ovid personified the season of autumn as a female figure, describing her as a graceful and bountiful goddess. This literary representation helped establish the association between the name and the autumn season.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Autum was Autum Vindicianus, a Roman physician who lived during the 4th century AD. He is known for his contributions to the fields of medicine and pharmacology, authoring several treatises on the subject.
In the Middle Ages, the name Autum gained popularity among Christian communities, as it was seen as a symbolic representation of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Saint Autum of Trier, a 7th-century Frankish nun and abbess, was a notable figure who bore this name.
During the Renaissance period, the name Autum was embraced by artists and intellectuals who drew inspiration from classical Roman culture. Autum Browne (1605-1667), an English writer and poet, was a prominent figure of this era, known for her contributions to the development of English literature.
In more recent history, the name Autum has been associated with notable figures in various fields. Autum Ellinger (1919-2003) was an American baseball player who played for the Boston Red Sox in the 1940s. Autum Carpenter (1920-1995) was a British actress and model, known for her roles in several classic films of the 1950s and 1960s.
Throughout its long history, the name Autum has maintained a strong connection to the natural world, symbolizing the beauty and transience of the autumn season. Its origins in ancient Roman culture and its enduring presence across centuries have made it a timeless and evocative name choice.
People
Autum + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Autum 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
Autum: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Autum?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,197 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Autum 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 107,211 US residents.
Is Autum a common name?
We classify Autum as "Rare". It ranks above 95.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,299 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Autum most popular?
The single biggest year for Autum was 1998, when 146 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Autum is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Autum in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,294 people with the name Autum, or 1.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,271 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 Autum 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 Autum?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Autum appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,294 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Autum?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Autum is White at 73.2%. The next largest groups are Black (10.5%) 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 Autum most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Autum in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.2% (2,411 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 Autum in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Autum a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Autum 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 Autum still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Autum 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 Autum 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 Autum?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.