Cambridge
Medieval name derived from English and meaning "bridge on the River Cam".
Name Census estimates that about 156 living Americans carry the first name Cambridge. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 51.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Cambridge today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cambridge births was 2016 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cambridge. 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
156
~ 1 in 2,197,143 Americans
Peak year
2016
17 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,534
Tracked since 1992
Census
Cambridge in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 256 people with the first name Cambridge, which placed it at #32,700 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
#32,700
National first-name rank
People counted
256
256 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cambridge
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cambridge is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Black (20.7%) and Two or More Races (9.0%). 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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.2% · 172
- Black or African American20.7% · 53
- Two or more races9.0% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Cambridge
Cambridge is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 157 total registrations, 80 (51.0%) were male and 77 (49.0%) were female.
Cambridge as a male name
- Ranked #12,534 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2016 (11 births)
Cambridge as a female name
- Ranked #15,622 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2012 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Cambridge on both sides of the split. Of the 255 people counted with this name, 134 were male (52.5%) and 121 were female (47.5%).
Popularity
Cambridge: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cambridge from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 91 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Cambridge remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cambridge 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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge
The name Cambridge is an English place name derived from the combination of the Brittonic word "Cantab" meaning "winding river" and the Old English word "brycg" meaning "bridge." It refers to the city of Cambridge in England, situated on the River Cam. The name became popular as a given name after the city itself gained prominence as the location of the prestigious University of Cambridge, one of the world's oldest universities, founded in the early 13th century.
The earliest recorded use of Cambridge as a given name dates back to the late 16th century. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Cambridge Bury, an English academic and clergyman born in 1580 who served as the Master of Benedict College, Cambridge.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Cambridge. One of the most famous was Cambridge Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), an American Episcopal clergyman and author who served as the Bishop of Massachusetts and is best known for writing the lyrics to the beloved Christmas carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem."
Another notable figure was Cambridge Trelawny (1692-1759), an English clergyman and author who served as the Bishop of Winchester and was known for his involvement in the Bangorian Controversy, a theological debate that took place in the early 18th century.
In the realm of literature, Cambridge Milton Adolphus Meetkerke (1871-1956) was a British writer and poet who published several works, including "The Bath Comedy" and "The Houghton Experiment."
The name also has associations with the world of sports. Cambridge Evan Calverley (1889-1973) was a British rower who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, winning a silver medal as part of the British coxless four rowing team.
While the name Cambridge has its origins in England, it has been adopted as a given name in various other cultures and regions over time, likely due to the prestige associated with the University of Cambridge and the city itself.
People
Cambridge + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cambridge as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cambridge: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cambridge?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 156 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cambridge 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 2,197,143 US residents.
Is Cambridge a common name?
We classify Cambridge as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 157 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cambridge most popular?
The single biggest year for Cambridge was 2016, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cambridge is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cambridge in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 256 people with the name Cambridge, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,700 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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Cambridge on both sides of the split. Of the 255 people counted with this name, 134 were male (52.5%) and 121 were female (47.5%). 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 Cambridge?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cambridge is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Black (20.7%) and Two or More Races (9.0%). 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 Cambridge most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cambridge in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.2% (172 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 Cambridge in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cambridge a male name?
Yes, 51.0% of people registered as Cambridge 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 Cambridge still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cambridge 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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.