Beckham
Of English origin, derived from the Old English place name meaning "homestead among the ridges".
Name Census estimates that about 18,215 living Americans carry the first name Beckham. It sits at #168 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (98.6% of registrations). The average person named Beckham today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Beckham births was 2024 (2,239 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Beckham. 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 Beckham with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Beckham is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 260 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Beckham is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 8 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
18K
~ 1 in 18,817 Americans
Peak year
2024
2,239 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#168
Tracked since 1902
Census
Beckham in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,740 people with the first name Beckham, which placed it at #2,687 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
#2,687
National first-name rank
People counted
8.7K
8,740 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Beckham
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Beckham is White at 80.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.0%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). 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 Beckham 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 Beckham at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.3% · 7,020
- Hispanic or Latino9.0% · 784
- Two or more races6.8% · 591
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 183
- Black or African American1.4% · 123
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 39
Gender
Gender distribution for Beckham
Beckham leans heavily male at 98.6% of total registrations, but 260 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Beckham as a male name
- Ranked #168 in 2024
- 2,180 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (2,180 births)
Beckham as a female name
- Ranked #2,818 in 2024
- 59 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (59 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Beckham leans strongly male. 8,626 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 117 female bearers (1.3%).
Popularity
Beckham: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Beckham from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 9,140 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
Beckham 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 Beckham during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Beckhams live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Texas, Utah, California recorded the most babies named Beckham, while Wyoming, Vermont, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 354 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Beckham
The given name Beckham has its origins in the Old English language. It is believed to have derived from the combination of two words, "becc" meaning stream or brook, and "ham" meaning homestead or village. Therefore, the name Beckham likely referred to a settlement near a stream or a brook.
In the early medieval period, around the 7th to 11th centuries, the name Beckham was prevalent in various parts of England, particularly in the regions where Anglo-Saxon settlements were established. The name was often used to identify people who lived near streams or brooks, reflecting the geographical features of the area.
While there are no known records of the name appearing in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been documented in historical records and local archives from the medieval period onwards. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Beckham can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Beckham. One of the earliest recorded was Sir William Beckham (c. 1350 – 1419), an English landowner and knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War. Another notable figure was Thomas Beckham (c. 1530 – 1585), an English politician and Member of Parliament during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
In the 17th century, William Beckham (1609 – 1677) was a prominent merchant and landowner in Virginia, known for his role in the establishment of the colony's tobacco trade. Later, in the 18th century, Samuel Beckham (1735 – 1810) was a revolutionary soldier who fought in the American Revolutionary War.
One of the most famous bearers of the name in modern times is David Beckham (born 1975), the renowned English footballer who played for Manchester United, Real Madrid, and the English national team. His success and popularity have contributed to the increased recognition of the name Beckham on a global scale.
People
Beckham + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Beckham 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
Beckham: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Beckham?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 18,215 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Beckham 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 18,817 US residents.
Is Beckham a common name?
We classify Beckham as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 18,397 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Beckham most popular?
The single biggest year for Beckham was 2024, when 2,239 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Beckham is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Beckham in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,740 people with the name Beckham, or 2.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,687 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 Beckham 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 Beckham?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Beckham leans strongly male. 8,626 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 117 female bearers (1.3%). 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 Beckham?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Beckham is White at 80.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.0%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). 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 Beckham most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Beckham in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.3% (7,020 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 Beckham in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Beckham a male name?
Yes, 98.6% of people registered as Beckham 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 Beckham still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Beckham 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 Beckham 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 Beckham?
See how many Americans are named Beckham on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.