Baldwin
A masculine name from Old German meaning "bold friend".
Name Census estimates that about 411 living Americans carry the first name Baldwin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Baldwin today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Baldwin births was 1965 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Baldwin. 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 Baldwin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
411
~ 1 in 833,952 Americans
Peak year
1965
13 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,979
Tracked since 1880
Census
Baldwin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 661 people with the first name Baldwin, which placed it at #16,898 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
#16,898
National first-name rank
People counted
661
661 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
34.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Baldwin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Baldwin is Black at 34.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (20.3%). 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 Baldwin 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 Baldwin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American34.2% · 226
- Hispanic or Latino23.3% · 154
- Asian and Pacific Islander20.3% · 134
- White18.2% · 120
- Two or more races3.8% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Popularity
Baldwin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Baldwin from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 89 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Baldwin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Baldwin 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 Baldwin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Baldwins live
Origin
Meaning and history of Baldwin
The given name Baldwin is derived from the Germanic elements "bald", meaning "bold" or "brave", and "win", meaning "friend". It originated in the Middle Ages, around the 9th or 10th century, and was initially popular among the Frankish and Norman nobility in Europe.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Baldwin can be found in the 9th century, referring to Baldwin I, also known as Baldwin Iron Arm, who was the first Count of Flanders from 862 to 879 AD. He played a significant role in defending the region against Viking raids.
Another notable figure with the name Baldwin was Baldwin I of Jerusalem, who was one of the leaders of the First Crusade and became the first Latin King of Jerusalem in 1100 AD. He ruled the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1100 to 1118 AD.
In the 13th century, Baldwin II, also known as Baldwin of Courtenay, was the last emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, reigning from 1228 to 1261 AD. He was a prominent figure during the Fourth Crusade and the subsequent establishment of the Latin Empire in the eastern Mediterranean.
Moving forward in history, Baldwin I, also known as Baldwin the Leper King, was the fourth ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1174 to 1185 AD. Despite being afflicted with leprosy, he was a capable military leader and played a crucial role in defending the kingdom against Saladin's forces.
Another notable figure with the name Baldwin was Baldwin IV, also known as Baldwin the Leper or the Leper King of Jerusalem, who ruled the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1174 to 1185 AD. Despite his debilitating illness, he was a skilled military strategist and fought bravely against the Muslim forces led by Saladin.
These are just a few examples of notable historical figures who bore the name Baldwin, reflecting its long-standing association with bravery, nobility, and military prowess, particularly during the Middle Ages and the Crusades.
People
Baldwin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Baldwin 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
Baldwin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Baldwin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 411 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Baldwin 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 833,952 US residents.
Is Baldwin a common name?
We classify Baldwin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 634 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Baldwin most popular?
The single biggest year for Baldwin was 1965, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Baldwin is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Baldwin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 661 people with the name Baldwin, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,898 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 Baldwin 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 Baldwin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Baldwin leans strongly male. 626 people counted with this name were male (93.7%), compared with 42 female bearers (6.3%). 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 Baldwin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Baldwin is Black at 34.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (20.3%). 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 Baldwin most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Baldwin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.2% (226 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 Baldwin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Baldwin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Baldwin 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 Baldwin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Baldwin 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 Baldwin 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 Baldwin as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Baldwin, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.