Covey
A unisex name derived from the word "covey," meaning a small flock of birds.
Name Census estimates that about 302 living Americans carry the first name Covey. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Covey today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Covey births was 2024 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Covey. 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 Covey with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
302
~ 1 in 1,134,948 Americans
Peak year
2024
42 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,082
Tracked since 1969
Census
Covey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 236 people with the first name Covey, which placed it at #34,545 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
#34,545
National first-name rank
People counted
236
236 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Covey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Covey is White at 77.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.0%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Covey 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 Covey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.5% · 183
- Black or African American11.0% · 26
- Two or more races6.4% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Covey
Covey is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 309 total registrations, 241 (78.0%) were male and 68 (22.0%) were female.
Covey as a male name
- Ranked #4,082 in 2024
- 26 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (26 births)
Covey as a female name
- Ranked #6,976 in 2024
- 16 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Covey leans strongly male. 189 people counted with this name were male (80.1%), compared with 47 female bearers (19.9%).
Popularity
Covey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Covey from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 130 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
Covey 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 Covey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Coveys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Covey
The name Covey is an English given name derived from the old English word "cove," meaning a small bay or inlet. It is believed to have originated as a surname given to people who lived near such geographic features. The name was first recorded in the 13th century, with the earliest known instance being a man named William Covey, who was mentioned in the Assize Rolls of Huntingdonshire in 1260.
One of the earliest notable individuals to bear the name Covey was Robert Covey, an English Puritan minister who lived from 1601 to 1682. He was a prominent figure in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and served as the minister of the First Church of Boston for several years.
In the 17th century, another individual named Covey made his mark in history. John Covey (1638-1685) was an English sailor and explorer who is credited with being one of the first Europeans to explore the coastline of what is now Western Australia.
Moving into the 18th century, we find Samuel Covey (1701-1776), an American farmer and soldier who fought in the French and Indian War. He was also a member of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress during the American Revolutionary War.
One of the most famous individuals with the name Covey was Stephen R. Covey (1932-2012), an American author and educator. He was best known for his book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," which sold over 25 million copies and was one of the most influential self-help books of all time.
While not as widely recognized, another notable Covey was James E. Covey (1920-2013), an American naval officer who served in World War II and the Korean War. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945.
People
Covey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Covey 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
Covey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Covey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 302 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Covey 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 1,134,948 US residents.
Is Covey a common name?
We classify Covey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 309 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Covey most popular?
The single biggest year for Covey was 2024, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Covey is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Covey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 236 people with the name Covey, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,545 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 Covey 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 Covey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Covey leans strongly male. 189 people counted with this name were male (80.1%), compared with 47 female bearers (19.9%). 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 Covey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Covey is White at 77.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.0%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Covey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Covey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.5% (183 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 Covey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Covey a male name?
Yes, 78.0% of people registered as Covey 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 Covey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Covey 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 Covey 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 Covey?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.