Garner
An occupational name for a farmer or harvester.
Name Census estimates that about 1,382 living Americans carry the first name Garner. It is a predominantly male name (97.7% of registrations). The average person named Garner today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Garner births was 1932 (82 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Garner. 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
- • Although Garner is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 54 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 248,013 Americans
Peak year
1932
82 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,282
Tracked since 1881
Census
Garner in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,343 people with the first name Garner, which placed it at #10,065 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
#10,065
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,343 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Garner
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Garner is White at 78.2%. The next largest groups are Black (11.2%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). 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 Garner 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 Garner at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.2% · 1,050
- Black or African American11.2% · 151
- Two or more races3.8% · 51
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 43
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 16
Gender
Gender distribution for Garner
Garner leans heavily male at 97.7% of total registrations, but 54 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Garner as a male name
- Ranked #5,282 in 2024
- 18 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1932 (82 births)
Garner as a female name
- Ranked #15,976 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2014 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Garner leans strongly male. 1,214 people counted with this name were male (90.3%), compared with 130 female bearers (9.7%).
Popularity
Garner: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Garner from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 320 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1930s peak, Garner remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Garner 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 Garner during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Garners live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Garner, while Virginia, Mississippi, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Garner
The given name Garner has its origins in the Old English language, deriving from the occupational surname "garnere," which referred to a person whose job was to gather or store grain. This name can be traced back to the 11th century in England and was initially used to denote a profession or trade.
In the Middle Ages, the name Garner was primarily associated with individuals involved in agricultural work, particularly those responsible for overseeing the storage and preservation of grains and other crops. As surnames became more widespread, the occupational title "garnere" evolved into a hereditary surname, and eventually, the name Garner emerged as a given name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Garner can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This historical document mentions several individuals with the surname "Garnere," suggesting the name's longstanding presence in England.
Throughout history, the name Garner has been borne by various notable individuals, including:
1. Garner Ted Armstrong (1930-2003), an American evangelist and former leader of the Worldwide Church of God.
2. Garner Cleveland Cunningham (1881-1957), an American football coach and athletic director.
3. Garner Erwin (1884-1967), an American educator and administrator who served as the president of Shaw University.
4. Garner Holt (born 1955), an American animator and founder of Garner Holt Productions, a company that designs and builds animatronic figures.
5. Garner Ted Armstrong Jr. (1955-2021), an American evangelist and author, son of Garner Ted Armstrong.
While the name Garner has its roots in an occupational title, over time it has transcended its original meaning and become a given name in its own right, embraced by individuals from various backgrounds and cultures. The name's longevity and endurance throughout the centuries serve as a testament to its historical significance and appeal.
People
Garner + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Garner 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
Garner: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Garner?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,382 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Garner 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 248,013 US residents.
Is Garner a common name?
We classify Garner as "Rare". It ranks above 92% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,317 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Garner most popular?
The single biggest year for Garner was 1932, when 82 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Garner is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Garner in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,343 people with the name Garner, or 0.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,065 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 Garner 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 Garner?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Garner leans strongly male. 1,214 people counted with this name were male (90.3%), compared with 130 female bearers (9.7%). 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 Garner?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Garner is White at 78.2%. The next largest groups are Black (11.2%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). 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 Garner most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Garner in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.2% (1,050 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 Garner in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Garner a male name?
Yes, 97.7% of people registered as Garner 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 Garner still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Garner 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 Garner 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 have the name Garner?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Garner on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.