Evans
A Welsh derivative of the name "Evan" which means "young warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 3,102 living Americans carry the first name Evans. It is a predominantly male name (98.1% of registrations). The average person named Evans today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Evans births was 2024 (90 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Evans. 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 Evans with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Evans is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 103 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
3.1K
~ 1 in 110,495 Americans
Peak year
2024
90 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,879
Tracked since 1880
Census
Evans in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,840 people with the first name Evans, which placed it at #4,733 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
#4,733
National first-name rank
People counted
3.8K
3,840 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
52.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Evans
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Evans is Black at 52.5%. The next largest groups are White (30.0%) and Hispanic (9.8%). 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 Evans 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 Evans at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American52.5% · 2,016
- White30.0% · 1,152
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 375
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 129
- Two or more races2.3% · 88
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 80
Gender
Gender distribution for Evans
Evans leans heavily male at 98.1% of total registrations, but 103 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Evans as a male name
- Ranked #1,879 in 2024
- 85 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (85 births)
Evans as a female name
- Ranked #15,989 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Evans leans strongly male. 3,561 people counted with this name were male (92.8%), compared with 278 female bearers (7.2%).
Popularity
Evans: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Evans from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 654 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Evans remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Evans 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 Evans during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Evans' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. Florida, New York, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Evans, while Illinois, New Jersey, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 78 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Evans
The name Evans originates from the Welsh language and can be traced back to the medieval period. It is derived from the Welsh personal name Ieuan, which is a Welsh form of the name John, ultimately stemming from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Graced by God" or "Yahweh is gracious."
In its earliest form, the name Ieuan was spelled various ways, including Yvain, Yevan, and Evan. The plural form "Evans" emerged as a patronymic surname, indicating "son of Evan." Over time, it transitioned into being used as a given name in its own right.
While the name does not have a direct reference in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been in use among Welsh communities for centuries. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Evan the Priest, a 13th-century Welsh clergyman and author of the famous medieval Welsh chronicle, the "Brut y Tywysogion" (Chronicle of the Princes).
Among the notable historical figures with the name Evans, we can mention:
1. Evan Shelby (1720-1794), an American pioneer and Revolutionary War soldier who founded the city of Shelbyville, Tennessee.
2. Evan Nepean (1752-1822), a British civil servant and politician who served as Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
3. Evan Thomas (1782-1839), a Welsh Baptist minister and author who wrote extensively on Welsh history and culture.
4. Evan Roberts (1878-1951), a Welsh revivalist preacher who played a significant role in the Welsh Revival of 1904-1905.
5. Evan Hunter (1926-2005), an American author better known by his pen name Ed McBain, who pioneered the police procedural genre in crime fiction.
Throughout the centuries, the name Evans has maintained a strong connection to its Welsh roots while also gaining popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries. Its enduring presence serves as a testament to the rich cultural heritage and historical significance of this name.
People
Evans + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Evans as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Evans: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Evans?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,102 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Evans 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 110,495 US residents.
Is Evans a common name?
We classify Evans as "Rare". It ranks above 95.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,402 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Evans most popular?
The single biggest year for Evans was 2024, when 90 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Evans is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Evans in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,840 people with the name Evans, or 1.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,733 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 Evans 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 Evans?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Evans leans strongly male. 3,561 people counted with this name were male (92.8%), compared with 278 female bearers (7.2%). 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 Evans?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Evans is Black at 52.5%. The next largest groups are White (30.0%) and Hispanic (9.8%). 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 Evans most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Evans in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.5% (2,016 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 Evans in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Evans a male name?
Yes, 98.1% of people registered as Evans 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 Evans still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Evans 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 Evans 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 share the name Evans?
Want to know how many Americans are named Evans? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.