Baird
Anglicized form of the Gaelic surname Baird, meaning "bard" or "poet".
Name Census estimates that about 337 living Americans carry the first name Baird. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Baird today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Baird births was 1957 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Baird. 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.
People living today
337
~ 1 in 1,017,075 Americans
Peak year
1957
17 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,058
Tracked since 1915
Census
Baird in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 407 people with the first name Baird, which placed it at #23,894 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
#23,894
National first-name rank
People counted
407
407 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Baird
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Baird is White at 91.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.9%) and Hispanic (2.0%). 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 Baird 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 Baird at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.9% · 374
- Two or more races3.9% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 8
- Black or African American1.7% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Baird: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Baird from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 79 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Baird remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Baird 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 Baird during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Baird
The given name Baird has its origins in the Gaelic language and Scottish culture, with roots dating back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Scottish surname Baird, which is believed to have originated from the Old English word "bearde," meaning "bearded one."
The name Baird is thought to have first appeared in historical records around the 13th century, when it was used as a descriptive nickname or surname for individuals with prominent beards. As surnames became more widespread and hereditary during this period, Baird likely transitioned into a first name as well.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Baird was Robert Baird, a Scottish nobleman and landowner who lived in the late 13th century. He was a prominent figure in the Scottish Wars of Independence against England.
In the 16th century, Baird appeared as the name of a Scottish Protestant minister and theologian, John Baird (c. 1530-1600). He was a prominent figure in the Scottish Reformation and a vocal critic of the Catholic Church.
Another notable figure named Baird was Sir David Baird (1757-1829), a British military officer who played a significant role in the Napoleonic Wars. He was renowned for his bravery and leadership, and was awarded numerous honors, including the Order of the Bath.
In the 19th century, Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1887) was an American naturalist and ornithologist who served as the second Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He made significant contributions to the study of birds and helped establish several natural history museums.
More recently, Ralph Baird (1917-2008) was a British actor known for his roles in films such as "The Ipcress File" and "The Pink Panther Strikes Again." He had a long and successful career in both film and television.
While the name Baird has Scottish origins, it has been adopted and used in various parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries. However, its historical roots and associations with notable individuals from Scotland and the United Kingdom remain a significant part of its legacy.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Baird
People
Baird + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Baird 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
Baird: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Baird?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 337 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Baird 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 1,017,075 US residents.
Is Baird a common name?
We classify Baird as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 471 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Baird most popular?
The single biggest year for Baird was 1957, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Baird is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Baird in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 407 people with the name Baird, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,894 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 Baird 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 Baird?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Baird leans strongly male. 384 people counted with this name were male (94.6%), compared with 22 female 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 Baird?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Baird is White at 91.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.9%) and Hispanic (2.0%). 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 Baird most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Baird in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.9% (374 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 Baird in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Baird a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Baird 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 Baird still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Baird 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 Baird 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 the name Baird?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.