Babe
Diminutive term used as a given name meaning "little child" or "baby".
Name Census estimates that about 64 living Americans carry the first name Babe. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 52.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Babe today is around 80 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Babe births was 1927 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Babe. 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 Babe is about 80 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Babes were born before 1956.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Babe. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
64
~ 1 in 5,355,537 Americans
Peak year
1927
33 babies that year
Average age
80
years old
1980 SSA rank
#5,360
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Babe
Babe is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 728 total registrations, 345 (47.4%) were male and 383 (52.6%) were female.
Babe as a male name
- Ranked #6,337 in 1980
- 5 male births in 1980
- Peak: 1929 (16 births)
Babe as a female name
- Ranked #5,360 in 1947
- 5 female births in 1947
- Peak: 1915 (19 births)
Popularity
Babe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Babe from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 242 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
Babe 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 Babe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Babes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Babe
The name Babe is of English origin and derives from the Middle English word "babe," which means "baby" or "infant." This term itself traces back to the Old French "babe," meaning the same, and ultimately to the Latin "babulus," a reduplicative form of the sound "ba" that babies make.
In the early 14th century, the word "babe" was commonly used as a term of endearment for a young child or sweetheart. By the late 15th century, it had evolved into a given name, primarily for girls. One of the earliest recorded instances of Babe as a first name comes from baptismal records in England in the late 1500s.
The name gained popularity in the early 20th century, partly due to its association with the famous American baseball player and icon, Babe Ruth (1895-1948). Born George Herman Ruth Jr., he acquired the nickname "Babe" early in his career, and it stuck for the rest of his life.
Another notable Babe from history was Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1911-1956), an American athlete who excelled in multiple sports, including golf, basketball, and track and field. She was one of the most accomplished female athletes of her time and helped pave the way for women's participation in professional sports.
In literature, the name Babe is famously associated with the protagonist of the novel "The Babe Ruth Story" by Robert W. Creamer, published in 1974, which chronicled the life and career of the legendary baseball player.
Other historical figures named Babe include Babe Paley (1915-1978), a renowned American socialite and style icon, and Babe Zaharias (see above), one of the greatest female athletes of all time.
While the name Babe was more commonly given to girls in the past, it has also been used as a masculine name, often as a nickname or short form of other names such as Bartholomew or Barnabas.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Babe
People
Babe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Babe as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Babe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Babe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 64 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Babe 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 5,355,537 US residents.
Is Babe a common name?
We classify Babe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 728 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Babe most popular?
The single biggest year for Babe was 1927, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Babe is about 80 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Babe a female name?
Yes, 52.6% of people registered as Babe 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.
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.