Corby
A diminutive form of the surname Corbet meaning "little raven".
Name Census estimates that about 1,453 living Americans carry the first name Corby. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Corby today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Corby births was 1973 (64 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Corby. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Corby with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 235,894 Americans
Peak year
1973
64 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2021 SSA rank
#11,384
Tracked since 1922
Census
Corby in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,452 people with the first name Corby, which placed it at #9,530 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
#9,530
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,452 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Corby
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Corby is White at 83.7%. The next largest groups are Black (7.2%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Corby 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 Corby at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.7% · 1,216
- Black or African American7.2% · 105
- Two or more races3.4% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 30
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Corby
Corby leans heavily male at 81.7% of total registrations, but 303 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Corby as a male name
- Ranked #12,495 in 2021
- 5 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1973 (59 births)
Corby as a female name
- Ranked #11,384 in 1998
- 7 female births in 1998
- Peak: 1954 (39 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Corby on both sides of the split. Of the 1,458 people counted with this name, 1,136 were male (77.9%) and 322 were female (22.1%).
Popularity
Corby: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Corby from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 477 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Corby 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 Corby during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Corbys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Texas, California, Utah recorded the most babies named Corby, while Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Corby
The name Corby is of English origin, derived from the Old English words "cor" meaning "bend" or "winding" and "by" meaning "town" or "village." It likely originated as a place name referring to a settlement located near a bend in a river or stream.
The earliest recorded use of the name Corby dates back to the 11th century, when it appeared in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land and property commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The entry refers to the village of "Corbei" in Northamptonshire, England.
Throughout the Middle Ages, Corby was primarily used as a surname or a place name, rather than a given name. It wasn't until the 16th century that it began to gain popularity as a first name, particularly among English families with ties to the village of Corby or the surrounding areas.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Corby was Corby Jenyns, a British author and scholar who lived from 1665 to 1741. He is best known for his work on the history of Cambridgeshire and his contributions to the field of natural history.
In the 18th century, Corby Browne (1712-1788) was a prominent British politician who served as a member of parliament for several constituencies, including Arundel and Wendover.
During the 19th century, Corby Nicholson (1854-1927) was a notable English architect who designed several notable buildings in the Arts and Crafts style, including the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
In the 20th century, Corby Borromeo (1920-1998) was an Italian-American artist and sculptor who gained recognition for his abstract and modernist works. His sculptures can be found in various public spaces and museums across the United States.
Another notable figure with the name Corby was Corby Anderson (1938-2019), an American actor and voice artist who appeared in numerous films, television shows, and video games. He was particularly well-known for his voice work in animated series such as "The Transformers" and "G.I. Joe."
While the name Corby has its roots in England, it has been used across various cultures and regions over the centuries, albeit with relatively low frequency compared to more common names. Its unique origins and historical significance make it a distinctive and intriguing choice for a given name.
People
Corby + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Corby 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
Corby: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Corby?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,453 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Corby 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 235,894 US residents.
Is Corby a common name?
We classify Corby as "Rare". It ranks above 92.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,653 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Corby most popular?
The single biggest year for Corby was 1973, when 64 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Corby is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Corby in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,452 people with the name Corby, or 0.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,530 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 Corby 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 Corby?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Corby on both sides of the split. Of the 1,458 people counted with this name, 1,136 were male (77.9%) and 322 were female (22.1%). 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 Corby?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Corby is White at 83.7%. The next largest groups are Black (7.2%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Corby most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Corby in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.7% (1,216 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 Corby in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Corby a male name?
Yes, 81.7% of people registered as Corby 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 Corby still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Corby 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 Corby 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 the name Corby?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Corby, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.