Choice
An English word denoting preference or selecting from options.
Name Census estimates that about 152 living Americans carry the first name Choice. It is a predominantly male name (90.5% of registrations). The average person named Choice today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Choice births was 2024 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Choice. 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
152
~ 1 in 2,254,963 Americans
Peak year
2024
17 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,841
Tracked since 1910
Census
Choice in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 285 people with the first name Choice, which placed it at #30,528 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
#30,528
National first-name rank
People counted
285
285 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
57.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Choice
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Choice is Black at 57.9%. The next largest groups are White (27.4%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Choice 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 Choice at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American57.9% · 165
- White27.4% · 78
- Two or more races6.0% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Choice
Choice leans heavily male at 90.5% of total registrations, but 27 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Choice as a male name
- Ranked #7,841 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1922 (11 births)
Choice as a female name
- Ranked #12,391 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Choice on both sides of the split. Of the 286 people counted with this name, 178 were male (62.2%) and 108 were female (37.8%).
Popularity
Choice: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Choice from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 63 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Choice remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Choice 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 Choice during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Choices live
Origin
Meaning and history of Choice
The name Choice is an English word name that emerged as a given name in the late 19th century. It is derived from the Middle English word "chois", which itself stems from the Old French "choisir", meaning "to choose". The name Choice carries a sense of freedom, decision-making, and the power of individual agency.
While not a traditional given name, Choice was likely chosen by parents as a symbolic name, reflecting their hopes for their child to have the ability to make wise choices in life or to live a life of their own choosing. Some of the earliest recorded instances of the name Choice being used as a first name can be found in census records from the late 1800s in the United States.
One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name Choice was Choice Jones, born in Mississippi in 1859. Jones was a Baptist minister and educator who helped establish several schools for African American students in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Another notable figure with the name Choice was Choice Atherton, born in England in 1900. Atherton was a British author and playwright who wrote several popular novels and plays in the 1930s and 1940s, including the critically acclaimed "The Jealous God".
In the realm of music, Choice Yvonne Thornton, born in 1952, was an American singer and actress who found success on Broadway and in television. She is best known for her role in the original Broadway production of "The Wiz" and her performances on the popular sitcom "227".
Choice Cooper, born in 1970, is an American artist and activist known for her powerful mixed-media works that explore themes of identity, social justice, and the African American experience. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States.
Lastly, Choice Skinner, born in 1986, is a professional basketball player from the United States. He played for several teams in the NBA and international leagues, and is currently a free agent.
While not a common name, Choice has been borne by individuals from various walks of life throughout history, reflecting the diverse interpretations and aspirations associated with this unique moniker.
People
Choice + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Choice 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
Choice: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Choice?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 152 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Choice 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 2,254,963 US residents.
Is Choice a common name?
We classify Choice as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 285 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Choice most popular?
The single biggest year for Choice was 2024, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Choice is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Choice in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 285 people with the name Choice, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,528 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 Choice 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 Choice?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Choice on both sides of the split. Of the 286 people counted with this name, 178 were male (62.2%) and 108 were female (37.8%). 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 Choice?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Choice is Black at 57.9%. The next largest groups are White (27.4%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Choice most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Choice in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.9% (165 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 Choice in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Choice a male name?
Yes, 90.5% of people registered as Choice 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 Choice still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Choice 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 Choice 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 common is the name Choice?
See how many Americans are named Choice on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.