Foster
A masculine given name derived from an occupational surname meaning "forester" or "woodsman".
Name Census estimates that about 7,518 living Americans carry the first name Foster. It is a predominantly male name (97.9% of registrations). The average person named Foster today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Foster births was 2023 (257 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Foster. 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 Foster with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Foster is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 272 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
7.5K
~ 1 in 45,591 Americans
Peak year
2023
257 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,075
Tracked since 1880
Census
Foster in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,035 people with the first name Foster, which placed it at #3,121 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
#3,121
National first-name rank
People counted
7.0K
7,035 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Foster
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Foster is White at 74.3%. The next largest groups are Black (15.3%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Foster 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 Foster at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.3% · 5,230
- Black or African American15.3% · 1,078
- Two or more races4.3% · 304
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 285
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 74
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 64
Gender
Gender distribution for Foster
Foster leans heavily male at 97.9% of total registrations, but 272 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Foster as a male name
- Ranked #1,075 in 2024
- 202 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (232 births)
Foster as a female name
- Ranked #5,838 in 2024
- 21 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (25 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Foster leans strongly male. 6,540 people counted with this name were male (93.0%), compared with 493 female bearers (7.0%).
Popularity
Foster: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Foster from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,988 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Foster remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Foster 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 Foster during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Fosters live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio recorded the most babies named Foster, while Arizona, South Dakota, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 178 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Foster
The name Foster has its origins in the Old English language, deriving from the word "foestre," which means "nourisher" or "sustainer." This name was initially used as an occupational surname for those who served as foster parents or caregivers to children who were not their biological offspring.
During the Middle Ages, the practice of fostering children was common among noble families in medieval Europe. Foster children were often sent to live with other noble households to learn courtly manners, receive education, or forge alliances between families. As a result, the name Foster became associated with this tradition and gained prominence.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Foster can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as a surname in various spellings, such as "Fostere" and "Forster."
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Foster:
1. Stephen Foster (1826-1864), an American songwriter known as the "Father of American Music," who composed iconic songs such as "Oh! Susanna" and "Camptown Races."
2. Sir Michael Foster (1836-1907), an English physiologist and professor at the University of Cambridge, who made significant contributions to the study of physiology and the understanding of the human body.
3. Jodie Foster (born 1962), an American actress, director, and producer, renowned for her roles in films like "The Silence of the Lambs" and "The Accused," for which she won Academy Awards.
4. Norman Foster (born 1935), a prominent British architect known for his innovative and sustainable designs, including the Gherkin in London and the Millau Viaduct in France.
5. Vince Foster (1945-1993), an American lawyer and Deputy White House Counsel during the Clinton administration, whose tragic death sparked numerous investigations and conspiracy theories.
While the name Foster originated as an occupational surname, it has since transcended its initial meaning and has become a popular given name in its own right, reflecting the nurturing and protective qualities associated with its etymology.
People
Foster + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Foster 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
Foster: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Foster?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,518 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Foster 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 45,591 US residents.
Is Foster a common name?
We classify Foster as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,130 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Foster most popular?
The single biggest year for Foster was 2023, when 257 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Foster 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 Foster in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,035 people with the name Foster, or 2.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,121 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 Foster 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 Foster?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Foster leans strongly male. 6,540 people counted with this name were male (93.0%), compared with 493 female bearers (7.0%). 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 Foster?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Foster is White at 74.3%. The next largest groups are Black (15.3%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Foster most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Foster in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.3% (5,230 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 Foster in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Foster a male name?
Yes, 97.9% of people registered as Foster 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 Foster still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Foster 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 Foster 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 named Foster?
Want to know how many people share the name Foster? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.