Ferdinand
A masculine name of German origin meaning "brave traveler".
Name Census estimates that about 3,028 living Americans carry the first name Ferdinand. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ferdinand today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ferdinand births was 1918 (259 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ferdinand. 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 Ferdinand with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.0K
~ 1 in 113,195 Americans
Peak year
1918
259 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,902
Tracked since 1880
Census
Ferdinand in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,930 people with the first name Ferdinand, which placed it at #3,145 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
#3,145
National first-name rank
People counted
6.9K
6,930 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
42.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ferdinand
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ferdinand is Asian/Pacific Islander at 42.3%. The next largest groups are White (25.4%) and Hispanic (17.3%). 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 Ferdinand 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 Ferdinand at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander42.3% · 2,931
- White25.4% · 1,763
- Hispanic or Latino17.3% · 1,196
- Black or African American13.1% · 909
- Two or more races1.5% · 101
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 30
Popularity
Ferdinand: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ferdinand 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 1,774 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ferdinand 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 Ferdinand during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ferdinands live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Ferdinand, while Florida, Alabama, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 177 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ferdinand
The name Ferdinand has its origins in the Germanic languages, deriving from the compound words "fridu" meaning "peace" and "nanthu" meaning "daring" or "brave." It surfaced during the Middle Ages, around the 6th century AD, as a masculine name prevalent among the Visigoths, a branch of the Germanic tribes who ruled portions of the Iberian Peninsula and parts of modern-day France.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ferdinand can be traced back to the 9th century, when it appears in the historical records of the Frankish Kingdom. A notable bearer of the name from this era was Ferdinand I, Count of Castile, who lived from circa 910 to 970 AD and played a significant role in the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile.
The name gained further prominence during the 11th century with Ferdinand I, known as "the Great," who reigned as the King of León and Castile from 1037 to 1065. His reign marked a crucial period in the Reconquista, the centuries-long struggle to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from Moorish rule.
Another famous Ferdinand was Ferdinand II of Aragon, who lived from 1452 to 1516. He was the King of Aragon and, through his marriage to Isabella I of Castile, became the first monarch to rule over a unified Spain after the union of the Kingdoms of Aragon and Castile.
In the 16th century, Ferdinand I, who lived from 1503 to 1564, was the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of Bohemia and Hungary. His reign saw significant developments in the Reformation and the expansion of the Habsburg Empire.
Fast-forwarding to the 19th century, Ferdinand I of Austria, who lived from 1793 to 1875, was the Emperor of Austria and the King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. He played a pivotal role in the revolutions of 1848 and the subsequent reforms in the Austrian Empire.
People
Ferdinand + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ferdinand 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
Ferdinand: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ferdinand?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,028 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ferdinand 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 113,195 US residents.
Is Ferdinand a common name?
We classify Ferdinand as "Rare". It ranks above 95.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,885 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ferdinand most popular?
The single biggest year for Ferdinand was 1918, when 259 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ferdinand is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ferdinand in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,930 people with the name Ferdinand, or 2.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,145 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 Ferdinand 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 Ferdinand?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ferdinand appears almost entirely male. Of the 6,930 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Ferdinand?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ferdinand is Asian/Pacific Islander at 42.3%. The next largest groups are White (25.4%) and Hispanic (17.3%). 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 Ferdinand most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ferdinand in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.3% (2,931 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 Ferdinand in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ferdinand a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ferdinand 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 Ferdinand still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ferdinand 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 Ferdinand 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 are called Ferdinand?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Ferdinand at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.