Bandy
A diminutive of names starting with "ban", possibly of Scandinavian origin.
Name Census estimates that about 86 living Americans carry the first name Bandy. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 67.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Bandy today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bandy births was 1979 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bandy. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Bandy. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
86
~ 1 in 3,985,516 Americans
Peak year
1979
16 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
1986 SSA rank
#5,997
Tracked since 1976
Census
Bandy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 203 people with the first name Bandy, which placed it at #38,074 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
#38,074
National first-name rank
People counted
203
203 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bandy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bandy is White at 75.4%. The next largest groups are Black (6.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.4%). 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 Bandy 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 Bandy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.4% · 153
- Black or African American6.9% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.4% · 13
- Two or more races5.9% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Bandy
Bandy is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 92 total registrations, 62 (67.4%) were male and 30 (32.6%) were female.
Bandy as a male name
- Ranked #5,997 in 1986
- 6 male births in 1986
- Peak: 1979 (11 births)
Bandy as a female name
- Ranked #9,411 in 1985
- 6 female births in 1985
- Peak: 1976 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bandy on both sides of the split. Of the 206 people counted with this name, 104 were male (50.5%) and 102 were female (49.5%).
Popularity
Bandy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bandy from the 1970s through to the 1980s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 48 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bandy 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 Bandy 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 Bandy
The name Bandy is believed to have originated from the Old English word "bandan," which means "to bind" or "to tie." This name was commonly used in England during the Middle Ages, particularly among those who worked as rope makers or basket weavers.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Bandy can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears in various spellings, such as "Bandi" and "Bandie," indicating its widespread use at the time.
In the 14th century, a notable figure named Bandy Fitzherbert was a prominent lawyer and judge in England. He served as the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1364 to 1379 and played a significant role in shaping English common law.
During the Renaissance period, the name Bandy gained popularity among artists and intellectuals. One notable bearer of this name was Bandy Sixtus, an Italian painter and architect who lived from 1492 to 1555. His works adorned several churches and palaces in Rome and other Italian cities.
In the 17th century, Bandy Newcomen (1663-1737) was a notable English inventor and pioneering engineer. He is credited with inventing the atmospheric steam engine, which paved the way for the Industrial Revolution.
Another historical figure with the name Bandy was Bandy Shelley (1792-1822), an English Romantic poet renowned for his works such as "Prometheus Unbound" and "Adonais." His poems explored themes of nature, love, and political freedom, and he is considered one of the most influential poets of the Romantic era.
While the name Bandy has its roots in Old English, it has also been used in other cultures and languages. For instance, in some Scandinavian countries, the name Bandy is derived from the Old Norse word "bandingr," which means "one who binds."
People
Bandy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bandy 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
Bandy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bandy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 86 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bandy 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 3,985,516 US residents.
Is Bandy a common name?
We classify Bandy as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 92 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bandy most popular?
The single biggest year for Bandy was 1979, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bandy is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bandy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 203 people with the name Bandy, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,074 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 Bandy 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 Bandy?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bandy on both sides of the split. Of the 206 people counted with this name, 104 were male (50.5%) and 102 were female (49.5%). 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 Bandy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bandy is White at 75.4%. The next largest groups are Black (6.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.4%). 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 Bandy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bandy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.4% (153 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 Bandy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bandy a male name?
Yes, 67.4% of people registered as Bandy 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 Bandy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bandy 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 Bandy 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 are called Bandy?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.