Bird
A feminine name derived from English and referring to feathered avian creatures.
Name Census estimates that about 4 living Americans carry the first name Bird. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 52.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Bird today is around 120 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bird births was 1880 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bird. 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 Bird is about 120 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Birds were born before 1916.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Bird. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
4
~ 1 in 85,688,585 Americans
Peak year
1880
17 babies that year
Average age
120
years old
1929 SSA rank
#3,269
Tracked since 1880
Census
Bird in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 332 people with the first name Bird, which placed it at #27,518 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
#27,518
National first-name rank
People counted
332
332 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bird
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bird is White at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Black (19.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.4%). 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 Bird 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 Bird at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.3% · 197
- Black or African American19.6% · 65
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.4% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 21
- Two or more races3.9% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.4% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Bird
Bird is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 230 total registrations, 109 (47.4%) were male and 121 (52.6%) were female.
Bird as a male name
- Ranked #3,269 in 1929
- 7 male births in 1929
- Peak: 1880 (7 births)
Bird as a female name
- Ranked #4,371 in 1926
- 6 female births in 1926
- Peak: 1888 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bird on both sides of the split. Of the 323 people counted with this name, 161 were male (49.8%) and 162 were female (50.2%).
Popularity
Bird: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bird from the 1880s through to the 1920s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1880s, with 105 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1880s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bird 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 Bird 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 Bird
The name Bird is an English given name derived from the Old English word "bridd," which means a feathered winged creature. This name has its origins in the Anglo-Saxon culture of England, dating back to the 5th century CE. It was likely initially used as a nickname or surname for someone who had a particular affinity for birds or worked with them.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Bird can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this document, there are several instances of individuals with the surname "Bird" listed.
Throughout history, the name Bird has been borne by several notable individuals. One such person was Bird Runagates, a 14th-century English outlaw and highwayman who was active in the area around Sherwood Forest. Another was Bird Scudder (1635-1692), an early American settler and founder of the town of Huntington, Long Island.
In the 18th century, Bird Boudinot (1719-1799) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as the president of the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1783. During the same period, Bird Wilson (1741-1804) was an American soldier and politician who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and later as a member of the United States House of Representatives.
Moving into the 19th century, Bird Dieudonne (1820-1893) was a French artist and illustrator known for his works depicting scenes from everyday life in Paris. Additionally, Bird Sibbald (1834-1905) was a Scottish architect who designed several notable buildings in Edinburgh, including the McEwan Hall at the University of Edinburgh.
While the name Bird has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has been borne by individuals from various backgrounds and professions, reflecting its long-standing presence in the English language and culture.
People
Bird + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bird 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
Bird: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bird?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bird 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 85,688,585 US residents.
Is Bird a common name?
We classify Bird as "Very Rare". It ranks above 6.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 230 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bird most popular?
The single biggest year for Bird was 1880, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bird is about 120 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bird in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 332 people with the name Bird, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,518 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 Bird 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 Bird?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bird on both sides of the split. Of the 323 people counted with this name, 161 were male (49.8%) and 162 were female (50.2%). 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 Bird?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bird is White at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Black (19.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.4%). 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 Bird most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bird in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.3% (197 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 Bird in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bird a female name?
Yes, 52.6% of people registered as Bird in the SSA data are female. 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 Bird still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bird 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 Bird 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 share the name Bird?
Want to know how many Americans are named Bird? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.