Bart
An English masculine name derived from an Old English word meaning "farmstead".
Name Census estimates that about 12,760 living Americans carry the first name Bart. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bart today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bart births was 1959 (1,022 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bart. 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 Bart with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 26,862 Americans
Peak year
1959
1,022 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2023 SSA rank
#6,886
Tracked since 1880
Census
Bart in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,949 people with the first name Bart, which placed it at #1,983 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
#1,983
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
13,949 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bart
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bart is White at 91.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.8%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Bart 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 Bart at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.0% · 12,700
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 388
- Two or more races2.2% · 303
- Black or African American1.8% · 258
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 196
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 104
Gender
Gender distribution for Bart
Out of the 16,362 babies given the name Bart since 1880, 100.0% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Bart as a male name
- Ranked #12,464 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1959 (1,022 births)
Bart as a female name
- Ranked #6,886 in 1967
- 5 female births in 1967
- Peak: 1967 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bart appears almost entirely male. Of the 13,955 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Bart: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bart from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 6,131 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bart 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 Bart during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Barts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Bart, while North Dakota, Hawaii, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 284 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bart
The name Bart is a diminutive or shortened form of the Germanic name Bartholomew, which is derived from the Aramaic bar-Talmay, meaning "son of the furrows" or "son of the plowed land." This suggests an agricultural connection or a reference to a rural or farming background.
The name Bartholomew has its roots in the ancient Aramaic language, which was widely spoken in the Middle East during the time of the Roman Empire. It was brought to Europe through early Christian missionaries and became popular among the Germanic tribes who converted to Christianity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bartholomew appears in the New Testament of the Bible, where it is the name of one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. This association with a prominent biblical figure likely contributed to the name's widespread use throughout Christendom.
In the Middle Ages, the name Bartholomew was often shortened to Bart or Barto, particularly in Germanic-speaking regions. These diminutive forms gained popularity and became established as independent given names in their own right.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Bart, including:
1. Bart van der Leck (1876-1958), a Dutch painter and one of the founders of the De Stijl art movement.
2. Bart Bok (1906-1983), a Dutch-American astronomer known for his contributions to the study of the Milky Way galaxy.
3. Bart Ehrman (born 1955), an American New Testament scholar and author of several books on early Christianity.
4. Bart Starr (1934-2019), an American professional football player and coach, best known as the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers during the Vince Lombardi era.
5. Bart Sibrel (born 1964), an American filmmaker and conspiracy theorist known for his controversial claims about the Moon landings.
While the name Bart has its origins in ancient languages and religious texts, it has evolved and taken on various forms and meanings over the centuries, becoming a popular and recognizable name in many cultures and societies.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Bart
People
Bart + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bart 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
Bart: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bart?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,760 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bart 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 26,862 US residents.
Is Bart a common name?
We classify Bart as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,362 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bart most popular?
The single biggest year for Bart was 1959, when 1,022 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bart is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bart in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,949 people with the name Bart, or 4.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,983 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 Bart 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 Bart?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bart appears almost entirely male. Of the 13,955 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Bart?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bart is White at 91.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.8%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Bart most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bart in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.0% (12,700 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 Bart in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bart a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bart 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 Bart still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bart 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 Bart 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 Americans are named Bart?
See how many people have the name Bart on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.