Bedford
A masculine name referring to a fortified place of shelter and rest.
Name Census estimates that about 352 living Americans carry the first name Bedford. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bedford today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bedford births was 1924 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bedford. 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
- • The typical person named Bedford is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Bedfords were born before 1966.
People living today
352
~ 1 in 973,734 Americans
Peak year
1924
41 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,588
Tracked since 1880
Census
Bedford in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 408 people with the first name Bedford, which placed it at #23,859 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
#23,859
National first-name rank
People counted
408
408 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bedford
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bedford is White at 72.5%. The next largest groups are Black (24.0%) and Hispanic (3.2%). 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 Bedford 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 Bedford at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.5% · 296
- Black or African American24.0% · 98
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Bedford: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bedford from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 305 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bedford 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 Bedford during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bedfords live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Bedford, while Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bedford
The name Bedford is an English given name with Anglo-Saxon origins. It derives from the Old English words "bed" meaning "bed" or "flat area" and "ford" meaning "a shallow place for crossing a river." Initially, it was a place name referring to a location with a shallow river crossing suitable for beds or encampments.
As a given name, Bedford first appeared in England during the 11th century. It may have been inspired by the town of Bedford in Bedfordshire, which was established by the Anglo-Saxons along the River Great Ouse. The name gained popularity among the English nobility and aristocracy in the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Bedford de Verdun, a Norman nobleman who lived in the late 12th century. He was granted lands in Ireland during the Norman invasion and became the Lord of Westmeath.
In the 13th century, the name appeared in the writings of the English chronicler Matthew Paris, who mentioned a nobleman named Bedford de Insula in his chronicles.
During the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century, the name became associated with the House of Lancaster. John Plantagenet, Duke of Bedford (1389-1435), was a prominent military leader and brother of King Henry V. He served as the regent of France during the Hundred Years' War.
In the 16th century, a notable figure named Bedford Ingram (1516-1572) served as the Secretary of the Council of the North under Queen Elizabeth I.
Another historical figure with the name was Bedford Pym (1584-1643), an English parliamentarian and a leading figure in the English Civil War. He played a crucial role in the impeachment of the Earl of Strafford and the outbreak of the conflict against King Charles I.
The name continued to be used in various forms throughout history. Bedford Fenwick (1766-1828) was a British naval officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars, while Bedford Hotchkiss (1826-1885) was an American businessman and inventor known for developing the Hotchkiss revolving cannon.
People
Bedford + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bedford 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
Bedford: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bedford?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 352 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bedford 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 973,734 US residents.
Is Bedford a common name?
We classify Bedford as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,240 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bedford most popular?
The single biggest year for Bedford was 1924, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bedford is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bedford in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 408 people with the name Bedford, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,859 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 Bedford 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 Bedford?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bedford leans strongly male. 410 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 5 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Bedford?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bedford is White at 72.5%. The next largest groups are Black (24.0%) and Hispanic (3.2%). 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 Bedford most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bedford in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.5% (296 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 Bedford in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bedford a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bedford 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 Bedford still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bedford 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 Bedford 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 Bedford?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.