Corky
A male given name derived from the English word "cork", meaning lively or energetic.
Name Census estimates that about 476 living Americans carry the first name Corky. It is a predominantly male name (92.3% of registrations). The average person named Corky today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Corky births was 1957 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Corky. 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
476
~ 1 in 720,072 Americans
Peak year
1957
36 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
1991 SSA rank
#6,435
Tracked since 1928
Census
Corky in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 442 people with the first name Corky, which placed it at #22,485 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
#22,485
National first-name rank
People counted
442
442 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Corky
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Corky is White at 80.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.5%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Corky 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 Corky at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.5% · 356
- Black or African American7.5% · 33
- Two or more races5.0% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Corky
Corky leans heavily male at 92.3% of total registrations, but 51 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Corky as a male name
- Ranked #8,422 in 1991
- 5 male births in 1991
- Peak: 1958 (31 births)
Corky as a female name
- Ranked #6,435 in 1959
- 5 female births in 1959
- Peak: 1954 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Corky on both sides of the split. Of the 436 people counted with this name, 340 were male (78.0%) and 96 were female (22.0%).
Popularity
Corky: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Corky from the 1920s through to the 1990s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 231 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Corky 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 Corky during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Corkys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Corky
The name Corky has its roots in the English language, originating as a diminutive or nickname for the given name Cornelius. The name Cornelius itself derives from the Roman nomen Cornelius, which is believed to have derived from the Latin word "cornu" meaning "horn."
Corky emerged as a popular nickname for Cornelius in the 16th century. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Corky can be found in the writings of English playwright William Shakespeare, where he uses the name in his play "The Tempest," written around 1610-1611.
In the 17th century, Corky appeared in historical records as a given name in its own right. One notable bearer of the name was Corky Boyfield, an English soldier and writer who lived from 1635 to 1710. Boyfield served in the English Civil War and later wrote a memoir detailing his experiences.
During the 18th century, the name Corky gained some popularity, particularly in the United States. One prominent American figure with the name was Corky Calhoun, a soldier and politician from South Carolina who lived from 1772 to 1850. Calhoun served in the American Revolutionary War and later became a member of the United States House of Representatives.
In the 19th century, the name Corky appeared in various literary works, including the novel "The Luck of Roaring Camp" by American author Bret Harte, published in 1868. The novel features a character named Corky, further solidifying the name's place in popular culture.
Another notable bearer of the name Corky was Corky Randall, an American Major League Baseball player who played from 1912 to 1924. Randall was a pitcher for several teams, including the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals.
As the 20th century progressed, the name Corky continued to be used, though its popularity waned somewhat. One well-known figure with the name was Corky Thatcher, an American film and television actor who lived from 1904 to 1984. Thatcher appeared in numerous movies and TV shows throughout his career, including the popular sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies."
People
Corky + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Corky 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
Corky: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Corky?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 476 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Corky 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 720,072 US residents.
Is Corky a common name?
We classify Corky as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 661 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Corky most popular?
The single biggest year for Corky was 1957, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Corky is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Corky in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 442 people with the name Corky, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,485 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 Corky 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 Corky?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Corky on both sides of the split. Of the 436 people counted with this name, 340 were male (78.0%) and 96 were female (22.0%). 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 Corky?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Corky is White at 80.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.5%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Corky most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Corky in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.5% (356 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 Corky in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Corky a male name?
Yes, 92.3% of people registered as Corky 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 Corky still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Corky 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 Corky 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 Corky?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.