Fausto
A masculine name of Latin origin meaning "auspicious" or "fortunate".
Name Census estimates that about 2,523 living Americans carry the first name Fausto. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Fausto today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fausto births was 2006 (68 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fausto. 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 Fausto with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 135,852 Americans
Peak year
2006
68 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,467
Tracked since 1915
Census
Fausto in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,712 people with the first name Fausto, which placed it at #2,696 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
#2,696
National first-name rank
People counted
8.7K
8,712 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
92.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fausto
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fausto is Hispanic at 92.9%. The next largest groups are White (4.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.5%). 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 Fausto 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 Fausto at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino92.9% · 8,097
- White4.6% · 402
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 134
- Black or African American0.7% · 57
- Two or more races0.2% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 3
Popularity
Fausto: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fausto from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 539 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fausto 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 Fausto during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Faustos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Fausto, while New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 226 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Fausto
The name Fausto originated from the Latin name Faustus, which means "lucky" or "fortunate." It was a common Roman name during the ancient Roman era, and its earliest known use dates back to the 1st century AD.
The name Fausto gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in Italy, where it was frequently used among the nobility and upper classes. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Fausto comes from the 5th century, when a Roman noble named Faustus Albinus Basilius held a prominent position in the court of the Western Roman Emperor Anthemius.
Fausto was also the name of a famous 4th-century Roman saint and martyr, Saint Faustus of Riez, who was born around 350 AD and served as the Bishop of Riez in what is now southeastern France. His life and teachings were documented in various religious texts, contributing to the name's widespread use among early Christians.
In literature, the name Fausto is most famously associated with the tragic figure of Doctor Faustus, the protagonist of the renowned play by Christopher Marlowe, published in 1604. The play was inspired by the legend of a German scholar who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power.
One of the earliest recorded historical figures named Fausto was Fausto Veranzio, an Italian Renaissance polymath born in 1551. He was a notable scholar, inventor, and bishop who made significant contributions to the fields of engineering and mechanics.
Another notable figure was Fausto Sozzi, an Italian painter and engraver born in 1592, known for his religious artworks and contributions to the Baroque art movement in Italy.
During the 19th century, Fausto Campana (1819-1870) was an Italian politician and revolutionary who played a significant role in the Italian unification movement, fighting alongside Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Fausto Coppi (1919-1960) was an Italian professional cyclist widely regarded as one of the greatest cyclists of all time, winning the Giro d'Italia five times and the Tour de France twice in the 1940s and 1950s.
The name Fausto has maintained its presence throughout history, with various notable individuals bearing the name across different fields, including literature, art, politics, and sports.
People
Fausto + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fausto as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Fausto: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fausto?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,523 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fausto 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 135,852 US residents.
Is Fausto a common name?
We classify Fausto as "Rare". It ranks above 94.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,885 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fausto most popular?
The single biggest year for Fausto was 2006, when 68 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fausto is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Fausto in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,712 people with the name Fausto, or 2.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,696 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 Fausto 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 Fausto?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fausto appears almost entirely male. Of the 8,708 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Fausto?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fausto is Hispanic at 92.9%. The next largest groups are White (4.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.5%). 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 Fausto most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Fausto in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.9% (8,097 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 Fausto in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fausto a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Fausto 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 Fausto still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fausto 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 Fausto 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 Fausto as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.