Bates
Of English origin, meaning "prosperous" or "wealthy".
Name Census estimates that about 109 living Americans carry the first name Bates. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bates today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bates births was 2014 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bates. 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
109
~ 1 in 3,144,535 Americans
Peak year
2014
17 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2023 SSA rank
#7,800
Tracked since 1919
Census
Bates in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 228 people with the first name Bates, which placed it at #35,335 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
#35,335
National first-name rank
People counted
228
228 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bates
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bates is White at 78.9%. The next largest groups are Black (11.4%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Bates 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 Bates at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.9% · 180
- Black or African American11.4% · 26
- Two or more races3.5% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 3
Popularity
Bates: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bates from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 67 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Bates remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bates 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 Bates 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 Bates
The name Bates has its origins in the Old English language, emerging during the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain. It derives from the word "bate," which means "prosperous" or "contented." This name was initially used to describe someone with a cheerful or satisfied demeanor.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bates can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and wealth conducted in 1086 under the directive of William the Conqueror. The name appears as "Bate," indicating its use as a surname or descriptor during that era.
In the medieval period, the name Bates gained popularity across various regions of England. It was commonly associated with individuals involved in trades or crafts, as the prosperous nature of their work aligned with the meaning of the name.
One notable figure bearing the name Bates was Sir John Bates, a prominent English lawyer and judge who lived from 1420 to 1492. He served as the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas during the reign of King Henry VII and played a crucial role in the legal system of his time.
Another individual of historical significance was Katherine Bates, an American poet and scholar born in 1859. She is best known for writing the lyrics to the iconic patriotic song "America the Beautiful," which was set to music composed by Samuel A. Ward.
In the realm of literature, Herbert Ernest Bates, an English writer born in 1905, gained recognition for his novels and short stories depicting rural life in England. His works, such as "The Darling Buds of May" and "The Triple Echo," captured the essence of country living and earned him critical acclaim.
Isaac Chapman Bates, born in 1779, was an American educator and author who made significant contributions to the field of education. He founded several schools and authored numerous textbooks, including a widely used arithmetic textbook that was instrumental in shaping early education in the United States.
Lastly, Daisy Bates, an Australian civil rights activist born in 1914, played a pivotal role in the struggle for Indigenous rights and racial equality in Australia. She co-founded the National Aboriginal Rights Movement and worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the plight of Aboriginal Australians, becoming a prominent figure in the country's human rights movement.
People
Bates + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bates 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
Bates: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bates?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 109 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bates 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 3,144,535 US residents.
Is Bates a common name?
We classify Bates as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 151 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bates most popular?
The single biggest year for Bates was 2014, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bates is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bates in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 228 people with the name Bates, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,335 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 Bates 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 Bates?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bates leans strongly male. 195 people counted with this name were male (83.7%), compared with 38 female bearers (16.3%). 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 Bates?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bates is White at 78.9%. The next largest groups are Black (11.4%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Bates most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bates in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.9% (180 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 Bates in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bates a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bates 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 Bates still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bates 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 Bates 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 named Bates?
Find out how many Americans are named Bates on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.