Avalon
Mythical paradise and final resting place of King Arthur.
Name Census estimates that about 3,704 living Americans carry the first name Avalon. It is a predominantly female name (98.7% of registrations). The average person named Avalon today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Avalon births was 2014 (158 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Avalon. 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 Avalon with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Avalon is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 54 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Avalon is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.7K
~ 1 in 92,536 Americans
Peak year
2014
158 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,602
Tracked since 1907
Census
Avalon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,218 people with the first name Avalon, which placed it at #5,362 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
#5,362
National first-name rank
People counted
3.2K
3,218 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Avalon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Avalon is White at 68.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.0%) and Two or More Races (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 Avalon 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 Avalon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.4% · 2,201
- Hispanic or Latino11.0% · 353
- Two or more races9.1% · 293
- Black or African American9.0% · 289
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 57
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 25
Gender
Gender distribution for Avalon
Avalon leans heavily female at 98.7% of total registrations, but 54 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Avalon as a male name
- Ranked #7,785 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (10 births)
Avalon as a female name
- Ranked #1,602 in 2024
- 130 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (158 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Avalon leans strongly female. 3,042 people counted with this name were female (94.6%), compared with 173 male bearers (5.4%).
Popularity
Avalon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Avalon from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,351 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Avalon remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Avalon 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 Avalon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Avalons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Avalon, while Kansas, Hawaii, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 73 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Avalon
The name Avalon has its roots in the Brythonic Celtic language, which was spoken in ancient Britain during the Iron Age and Roman eras. It is derived from the word "aval," meaning apple, and is believed to be a reference to the legendary Isle of Apples, a mythical island paradise associated with King Arthur and the Holy Grail.
The earliest recorded use of the name Avalon dates back to the 12th century, when it appeared in the writings of Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Welsh cleric and one of the first writers to describe the legendary tales of King Arthur. In his work "Historia Regum Britanniae" (History of the Kings of Britain), Monmouth refers to Avalon as the island where King Arthur was taken after being mortally wounded in battle.
Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance period, Avalon became a popular subject in Arthurian literature and folklore, with various authors and poets depicting it as a mystical realm of enchantment, healing, and eternal youth. One of the most famous references to Avalon is found in the 15th-century work "Le Morte d'Arthur" by Sir Thomas Malory, which recounts the legend of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table.
While the name Avalon is primarily associated with Arthurian legends, it has also been used as a given name throughout history. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Avalon Morell (1593-1657), an English politician and member of parliament during the English Civil War era.
Other notable figures with the name Avalon include Avalon Daggett (1826-1902), an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, and Avalon Bassett (1898-1986), an American stage and film actress who appeared in several Hollywood productions during the 1920s and 1930s.
In the realm of literature, Avalon Somerville (1858-1928) was an Irish novelist and playwright known for her works exploring social and political issues in Ireland, while Avalon Woodruff (1874-1944) was an American author and editor who contributed to numerous publications in the early 20th century.
More recently, Avalon Hubbard (1938-2021) was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation, one of the largest privately-held broadcasting companies in the United States.
People
Avalon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Avalon 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
Avalon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Avalon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,704 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Avalon 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 92,536 US residents.
Is Avalon a common name?
We classify Avalon as "Rare". It ranks above 95.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,119 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Avalon most popular?
The single biggest year for Avalon was 2014, when 158 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Avalon is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Avalon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,218 people with the name Avalon, or 1.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,362 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 Avalon 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 Avalon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Avalon leans strongly female. 3,042 people counted with this name were female (94.6%), compared with 173 male bearers (5.4%). 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 Avalon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Avalon is White at 68.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.0%) and Two or More Races (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 Avalon most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Avalon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.4% (2,201 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 Avalon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Avalon a female name?
Yes, 98.7% of people registered as Avalon 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 Avalon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Avalon 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 Avalon 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 have Avalon as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Avalon, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.