Fielding
One of English origin referring to those who farm fields.
Name Census estimates that about 385 living Americans carry the first name Fielding. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Fielding today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fielding births was 2022 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fielding. 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
385
~ 1 in 890,271 Americans
Peak year
2022
16 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,909
Tracked since 1884
Census
Fielding in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 488 people with the first name Fielding, which placed it at #20,967 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
#20,967
National first-name rank
People counted
488
488 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fielding
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fielding is White at 86.9%. The next largest groups are Black (6.1%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Fielding 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 Fielding at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.9% · 424
- Black or African American6.1% · 30
- Two or more races3.9% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 1
Popularity
Fielding: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fielding from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 111 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Fielding remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fielding 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 Fielding during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Fielding
The name Fielding has its roots in Old English, originating from the word "feld," which means "field" or "open land." It emerged during the medieval period in England, potentially as an occupational surname for someone who lived or worked in the fields.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Fielding dates back to the 13th century. In 1275, a man named Richard Fielding was mentioned in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire, England, which were records of landholders and their possessions.
Throughout history, the name Fielding has been associated with several notable individuals. One of the most celebrated figures was Henry Fielding (1707-1754), an English novelist and playwright who is best known for his novel "The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling." He played a significant role in the development of the English novel and is regarded as one of the pioneers of the genre.
Another prominent individual with the name Fielding was Sarah Fielding (1710-1768), an English author and the sister of Henry Fielding. She wrote novels, children's books, and translations, and is considered an important figure in the early development of the novel form.
In the field of exploration, Fielding Clarke (1786-1856) was an English navigator and explorer who participated in several expeditions to the Arctic regions in the early 19th century. His contributions to the mapping and understanding of the Arctic geography were significant.
Turning to the world of sports, Walter Fielding (1915-1988) was an English cricketer who played for both Essex and England in the 1930s and 1940s. He had a successful career as a right-handed opening batsman and was part of the English team that toured Australia in 1946-47.
Lastly, Fielding Culbreth (1856-1923) was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who officiated in the National League from 1892 to 1923. He is remembered for his long and influential career as an umpire and for his contributions to the development of the game.
People
Fielding + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fielding 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
Fielding: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fielding?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 385 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fielding 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 890,271 US residents.
Is Fielding a common name?
We classify Fielding as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 602 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fielding most popular?
The single biggest year for Fielding was 2022, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fielding is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Fielding in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 488 people with the name Fielding, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,967 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 Fielding 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 Fielding?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fielding leans strongly male. 449 people counted with this name were male (91.6%), compared with 41 female bearers (8.4%). 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 Fielding?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fielding is White at 86.9%. The next largest groups are Black (6.1%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Fielding most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Fielding in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.9% (424 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 Fielding in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fielding a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Fielding 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 Fielding still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fielding 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 Fielding 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 Fielding?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.