Bubby
An affectionate diminutive of "brother" or "grandmother" in Yiddish.
Name Census estimates that about 9 living Americans carry the first name Bubby. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bubby today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bubby births was 1933 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bubby. 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 Bubby is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Bubbys were born before 1970.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Bubby. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
9
~ 1 in 38,083,815 Americans
Peak year
1933
5 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
1969 SSA rank
#4,474
Tracked since 1933
Census
Bubby in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 186 people with the first name Bubby, which placed it at #40,168 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
#40,168
National first-name rank
People counted
186
186 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bubby
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bubby is White at 74.2%. The next largest groups are Black (10.2%) and Hispanic (6.5%). 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 Bubby 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 Bubby at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.2% · 138
- Black or African American10.2% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 12
- Two or more races4.3% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 2
Popularity
Bubby: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bubby from the 1930s through to the 1960s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 5 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
Bubby 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 Bubby 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 Bubby
The given name Bubby originates from the Yiddish language, which is a dialect of German historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Central and Eastern Europe. The name is a diminutive or nickname form derived from the name Bubbe, which means "grandmother" in Yiddish.
While the name Bubby is not directly found in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its root name Bubbe has its origins in the German language, where the word "Bube" means a young boy or a term of endearment for a child. The transition of this term into the Yiddish language likely occurred during the Middle Ages when Ashkenazi Jewish communities were established in German-speaking regions.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Bubby can be traced back to the late 19th century in Eastern European Jewish communities. It was often used as a term of affection for an elderly woman, particularly a grandmother figure.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have carried the name Bubby, although it was more commonly used as a nickname or term of endearment rather than an official given name. Here are five examples:
1. Bubby Rosenbaum (1892-1978), a Jewish American comedian and vaudeville performer known for her comedy routines and impersonations.
2. Bubby Gerson (1906-1985), a Polish-born American actor and comedian who appeared in several Yiddish theater productions and films.
3. Bubby Horowitz (1920-2001), a Canadian-born American artist and painter known for her vibrant abstract expressionist works.
4. Bubby Goldstein (1928-2012), a Polish-born American writer and Holocaust survivor who documented her experiences in the memoir "Bitter Freedom."
5. Bubby Sher (1935-2019), an American playwright and screenwriter best known for her play "Romantic Comedy" and the screenplay for the film "Mrs. Doubtfire."
While the name Bubby may have originated as a term of endearment, it has also been used as a given name, particularly within Jewish communities, as a way to honor and celebrate the role of grandmothers in family life and cultural traditions.
People
Bubby + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bubby 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
Bubby: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bubby?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bubby 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 38,083,815 US residents.
Is Bubby a common name?
We classify Bubby as "Very Rare". It ranks above 25.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bubby most popular?
The single biggest year for Bubby was 1933, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bubby is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bubby in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 186 people with the name Bubby, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,168 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 Bubby 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 Bubby?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bubby leans strongly male. 172 people counted with this name were male (93.0%), compared with 13 female bearers (7.0%). 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 Bubby?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bubby is White at 74.2%. The next largest groups are Black (10.2%) and Hispanic (6.5%). 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 Bubby most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bubby in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.2% (138 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 Bubby in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bubby a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bubby 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 Bubby still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bubby 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 Bubby 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 Bubby as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.