Fontaine
From French, meaning "fountain" or "spring of water".
Name Census estimates that about 270 living Americans carry the first name Fontaine. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 59.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Fontaine today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fontaine births was 1972 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fontaine. 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
270
~ 1 in 1,269,461 Americans
Peak year
1972
16 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,183
Tracked since 1922
Census
Fontaine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 464 people with the first name Fontaine, which placed it at #21,757 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
#21,757
National first-name rank
People counted
464
464 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
46.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fontaine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fontaine is Black at 46.1%. The next largest groups are White (37.3%) and Two or More Races (6.3%). 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 Fontaine 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 Fontaine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American46.1% · 214
- White37.3% · 173
- Two or more races6.3% · 29
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Fontaine
Fontaine is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 337 total registrations, 200 (59.3%) were male and 137 (40.7%) were female.
Fontaine as a male name
- Ranked #10,183 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1978 (13 births)
Fontaine as a female name
- Ranked #14,172 in 1995
- 5 female births in 1995
- Peak: 1963 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Fontaine on both sides of the split. Of the 459 people counted with this name, 226 were male (49.2%) and 233 were female (50.8%).
Popularity
Fontaine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fontaine from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 77 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fontaine 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 Fontaine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Fontaines live
Origin
Meaning and history of Fontaine
The name Fontaine originates from the French language and can be traced back to the 12th century. It is derived from the Old French word "fontaine," which means "fountain" or "spring." The name likely originated as a descriptive surname for someone who lived near a fountain or spring.
In medieval France, surnames often arose from geographical features, occupations, or personal characteristics. The name Fontaine was likely initially used to identify individuals who lived near a notable fountain or spring, which were important sources of fresh water in those times.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Fontaine can be found in the 13th-century French epic poem, "La Chanson de Roland," which mentions a character named Fontaine. This suggests that the name was in use as a surname or descriptive name during the Middle Ages.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Fontaine. For example, Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) was a celebrated French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. His fables, which often featured anthropomorphized animals, are still widely read and studied today.
Another famous bearer of the name was Françoise Fontaine (1667-1736), a French writer and playwright who wrote several plays and novels during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Her works often explored themes of love, marriage, and social critique.
In the 19th century, Eugène Fontaine (1824-1887) was a French architect and urban planner who designed several notable buildings in Paris, including the Palais Garnier (Paris Opera House) and the Hotel de Ville (City Hall).
More recently, Joan Fontaine (1917-2013) was an American actress who won an Academy Award for her role in the 1941 film "Suspicion." She was also known for her performances in several Alfred Hitchcock films, including "Rebecca" and "Vertigo."
Another notable bearer of the name was François Fontaine (1799-1838), a French artist and illustrator who is best known for his work on the French edition of "The Arabian Nights" and other illustrated books in the early 19th century.
While the name Fontaine has French origins, it has been adopted and used in various cultures and languages over the centuries, reflecting its rich history and the diverse individuals who have borne this name.
People
Fontaine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fontaine 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
Fontaine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fontaine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 270 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fontaine 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 1,269,461 US residents.
Is Fontaine a common name?
We classify Fontaine as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 337 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fontaine most popular?
The single biggest year for Fontaine was 1972, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fontaine is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Fontaine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 464 people with the name Fontaine, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,757 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 Fontaine 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 Fontaine?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Fontaine on both sides of the split. Of the 459 people counted with this name, 226 were male (49.2%) and 233 were female (50.8%). 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 Fontaine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fontaine is Black at 46.1%. The next largest groups are White (37.3%) and Two or More Races (6.3%). 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 Fontaine most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Fontaine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.1% (214 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 Fontaine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fontaine a male name?
Yes, 59.3% of people registered as Fontaine 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 Fontaine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fontaine 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 Fontaine 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 Fontaine?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.