Fox
An English name derived from the animal, suggesting cleverness or wiliness.
Name Census estimates that about 3,811 living Americans carry the first name Fox. It is a predominantly male name (97.5% of registrations). The average person named Fox today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fox births was 2016 (339 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fox. 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 Fox with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Fox is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 97 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Fox is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.8K
~ 1 in 89,938 Americans
Peak year
2016
339 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,111
Tracked since 1888
Census
Fox in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,000 people with the first name Fox, which placed it at #5,639 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
#5,639
National first-name rank
People counted
3.0K
3,000 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fox
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fox is White at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.4%) and Two or More Races (10.2%). 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 Fox 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 Fox at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.1% · 2,253
- Hispanic or Latino10.4% · 313
- Two or more races10.2% · 306
- Black or African American2.1% · 64
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 34
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 30
Gender
Gender distribution for Fox
Fox leans heavily male at 97.5% of total registrations, but 97 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Fox as a male name
- Ranked #1,111 in 2024
- 192 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (327 births)
Fox as a female name
- Ranked #13,997 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fox leans strongly male. 2,835 people counted with this name were male (94.6%), compared with 163 female bearers (5.4%).
Popularity
Fox: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fox from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,998 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Fox remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fox 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 Fox during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Fox' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. California, Texas, Washington recorded the most babies named Fox, while Idaho, Maine, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 72 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Fox
The given name Fox has its origins in the Old English word "fox", which referred to the reddish-brown bushy-tailed mammal found throughout Europe and North America. The name likely emerged as a nickname or descriptive term during the Anglo-Saxon period, possibly referring to someone with reddish hair or a sly, cunning personality akin to the animal.
The earliest recorded use of Fox as a given name dates back to the late 13th century, with records showing a man named Fox de Friston living in Yorkshire, England, in 1273. In the following centuries, the name appeared occasionally in historical records and parish registers, though it remained relatively uncommon.
One of the earliest notable figures to bear the name Fox was the English Puritan minister John Fox, born in 1516. He is best known for his historical work "Acts and Monuments," which chronicled the lives and martyrdoms of Protestants during the reign of Queen Mary I. This work earned him the epithet "the Martyrologist."
Another prominent individual with the name was George Fox, born in 1624, who founded the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers. His teachings and advocacy for religious tolerance had a lasting impact on the Quaker movement and influenced the principles of nonviolence and pacifism.
In the 18th century, Charles James Fox, an English statesman and orator, made a significant mark on British politics. Born in 1749, he served as a member of parliament and briefly as Foreign Secretary. Fox was renowned for his eloquence, wit, and support for parliamentary reform and civil liberties.
One of the most famous individuals named Fox in more recent history was the English novelist and playwright Frederick Fox, born in 1876. His novels, including "The Children of the Mist" and "The Robe," explored themes of spirituality and religion and were widely popular in the early 20th century.
Lastly, the American military officer and statesman Gustavus Vasa Fox, born in 1821, played a crucial role in the Union naval efforts during the American Civil War. He oversaw the construction of ironclad warships and coordinated the successful blockade of Confederate ports, contributing significantly to the Union victory.
People
Fox + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fox 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
Fox: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fox?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,811 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fox 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 89,938 US residents.
Is Fox a common name?
We classify Fox as "Rare". It ranks above 95.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,857 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fox most popular?
The single biggest year for Fox was 2016, when 339 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fox is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Fox in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,000 people with the name Fox, or 0.99 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,639 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 Fox 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 Fox?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fox leans strongly male. 2,835 people counted with this name were male (94.6%), compared with 163 female bearers (5.4%). 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 Fox?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fox is White at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.4%) and Two or More Races (10.2%). 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 Fox most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Fox in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.1% (2,253 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 Fox in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fox a male name?
Yes, 97.5% of people registered as Fox 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 Fox still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fox 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 Fox 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 Americans are named Fox?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Fox at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.