Gardiner
One who tends or cultivates a garden or gardens.
Name Census estimates that about 73 living Americans carry the first name Gardiner. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gardiner today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gardiner births was 1918 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gardiner. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Gardiner is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gardiners were born before 1968.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Gardiner. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
73
~ 1 in 4,695,265 Americans
Peak year
1918
13 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
1979 SSA rank
#5,594
Tracked since 1913
Census
Gardiner in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 188 people with the first name Gardiner, which placed it at #39,872 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
#39,872
National first-name rank
People counted
188
188 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gardiner
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gardiner is White at 82.4%. The next largest groups are Black (8.5%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Gardiner 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 Gardiner at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.4% · 155
- Black or African American8.5% · 16
- Two or more races4.8% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 8
Popularity
Gardiner: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gardiner from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 42 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Gardiner remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gardiner 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 Gardiner during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gardiners live
Origin
Meaning and history of Gardiner
The name Gardiner is derived from the Old French word "gardinier," which means "gardener" or "keeper of a garden." This name has its roots in the Middle Ages when gardening and horticulture were important professions. The name likely originated in regions where Old French was spoken, such as northern France and parts of England after the Norman Conquest in 1066.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gardiner can be found in the Domesday Book, a survey of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name is listed as "Gardinarius," a variation of the Old French word.
In the 13th century, the name appears in the historical records of the Benedictine monastery at Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, England. A monk named Gardiner is mentioned in the abbey's chronicles, suggesting that the name was in use among religious figures at the time.
In the late 14th century, a notable figure named John Gardiner was a prominent English lawyer and judge who served as Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1388 to 1389.
Another famous bearer of the name was Stephen Gardiner, a 16th-century English Catholic bishop and Lord Chancellor of England under King Henry VIII and Queen Mary I. He was born in 1483 and died in 1555, playing a significant role in the English Reformation.
During the 17th century, a British explorer and navigator named Allen Gardiner gained fame for his explorations of the South Pacific and his efforts to establish Christian missions in Patagonia. He was born in 1794 and died in 1851 while on a missionary expedition.
In the 18th century, John Gardiner was a respected English clergyman and naturalist who wrote extensively on the flora and fauna of his native Worcestershire. He was born in 1716 and died in 1794.
These examples illustrate the long-standing presence of the name Gardiner throughout history, spanning various professions and regions, from its Old French origins to its use among prominent figures in England and beyond.
People
Gardiner + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gardiner as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Gardiner: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gardiner?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 73 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gardiner 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 4,695,265 US residents.
Is Gardiner a common name?
We classify Gardiner as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 195 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gardiner most popular?
The single biggest year for Gardiner was 1918, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gardiner is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gardiner in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 188 people with the name Gardiner, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,872 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 Gardiner 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 Gardiner?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gardiner leans strongly male. 181 people counted with this name were male (92.3%), compared with 15 female bearers (7.7%). 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 Gardiner?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gardiner is White at 82.4%. The next largest groups are Black (8.5%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Gardiner most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gardiner in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.4% (155 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 Gardiner in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gardiner a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gardiner 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 Gardiner still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gardiner 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 Gardiner 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 Gardiner?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.