Bubba
Diminutive of "brother", a term of endearment used for males.
Name Census estimates that about 419 living Americans carry the first name Bubba. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bubba today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bubba births was 1963 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bubba. 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
419
~ 1 in 818,029 Americans
Peak year
1963
35 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,030
Tracked since 1945
Census
Bubba in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,643 people with the first name Bubba, which placed it at #8,743 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
#8,743
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,643 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bubba
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bubba is White at 71.1%. The next largest groups are Black (12.1%) and Hispanic (8.6%). 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 Bubba 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 Bubba at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.1% · 1,168
- Black or African American12.1% · 199
- Hispanic or Latino8.6% · 141
- Two or more races4.2% · 69
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 38
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 28
Popularity
Bubba: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bubba from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 191 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
Bubba 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 Bubba during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bubbas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, Mississippi, Georgia recorded the most babies named Bubba, while Georgia, Mississippi, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bubba
The name Bubba is a diminutive form of the given name Brother, which originated in the Southern United States. It is believed to have emerged as a colloquial term used by siblings to address one another, particularly among lower-class families in rural areas. The earliest known usage of the name Bubba can be traced back to the late 19th century.
The name's roots are deeply ingrained in the cultural and linguistic traditions of the American South. It is derived from the Southern dialect's tendency to replace the "r" sound with a more guttural "b" sound, resulting in the transformation of "Brother" into "Bubba." This linguistic phenomenon is known as rhotacism and is a distinctive feature of many Southern American English dialects.
While there are no records of the name Bubba appearing in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its usage has been documented in various literary works and historical accounts from the 20th century. One of the earliest notable individuals to bear the name was Bubba Shone, a professional baseball player who played for the Philadelphia Athletics in the early 1900s.
Throughout history, several individuals with the name Bubba have gained recognition in various fields. One such person was Bubba Smith (1945-2011), a renowned American football player and actor who played for the Baltimore Colts and starred in the iconic film "Police Academy." Another notable figure was Bubba Sparxxx (born 1977), an American rapper and songwriter known for his contributions to the Southern rap genre.
In the realm of sports, Bubba Watson (born 1978) is a professional golfer who has won multiple major championships, including the Masters Tournament in 2012 and 2014. Bubba Franks (born 1978) is a former American football tight end who played for the Green Bay Packers and won a Super Bowl championship in 2010.
Bubba Dickerson (1941-2016) was an American singer-songwriter and musician who achieved success in the country music genre, recording several hit singles and albums during his career. His contributions to the development of the Southern rock and outlaw country music styles have left a lasting impact on the genre.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Bubba
People
Bubba + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bubba 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
Bubba: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bubba?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 419 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bubba 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 818,029 US residents.
Is Bubba a common name?
We classify Bubba as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 498 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bubba most popular?
The single biggest year for Bubba was 1963, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bubba is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bubba in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,643 people with the name Bubba, or 0.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,743 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 Bubba 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 Bubba?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bubba leans strongly male. 1,569 people counted with this name were male (95.6%), compared with 73 female bearers (4.4%). 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 Bubba?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bubba is White at 71.1%. The next largest groups are Black (12.1%) and Hispanic (8.6%). 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 Bubba most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bubba in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.1% (1,168 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 Bubba in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bubba a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bubba 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 Bubba still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bubba 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 Bubba 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 Bubba?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.