Garret
A common English surname derived from the Middle English word "garite" meaning watch tower.
Name Census estimates that about 12,339 living Americans carry the first name Garret. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Garret today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Garret births was 2000 (590 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Garret. 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 Garret with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 27,778 Americans
Peak year
2000
590 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,563
Tracked since 1881
Census
Garret in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,625 people with the first name Garret, which placed it at #2,122 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
#2,122
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
12,625 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Garret
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Garret is White at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.3%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Garret 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 Garret at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.3% · 10,775
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 548
- Two or more races4.0% · 502
- Black or African American2.6% · 332
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 323
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 145
Gender
Gender distribution for Garret
Out of the 13,241 babies given the name Garret since 1880, 100.0% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Garret as a male name
- Ranked #6,563 in 2024
- 13 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (590 births)
Garret as a female name
- Ranked #11,037 in 1982
- 5 female births in 1982
- Peak: 1982 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Garret appears almost entirely male. Of the 12,629 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Garret: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Garret from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 4,492 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Garret 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 Garret during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Garrets live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. California, Texas, Michigan recorded the most babies named Garret, while New Mexico, Alaska, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 211 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Garret
The name Garret has its origins in the Germanic languages, specifically derived from the Old English word "gerƥefa," which means "granter" or "bestower." This name was commonly used in medieval England and was associated with individuals who held positions of authority, such as stewards or administrators.
In the early Middle Ages, the name Garret was particularly prevalent in regions of England and parts of the Germanic lands. The earliest recorded instances of the name can be traced back to the 11th century, appearing in various historical documents and records from that period.
One notable historical figure bearing the name Garret was Garret FitzGerald, who lived in the 12th century and served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland under King Henry II. He played a significant role in the Norman conquest of Ireland and the establishment of English rule in the country.
Another prominent individual was Garret Augustus Hobart, who was born in 1844 and served as the 24th Vice President of the United States under President William McKinley from 1897 until his death in 1899. He was a prominent lawyer and politician from New Jersey.
In the realm of literature, Garret Nazianzus, also known as Gregory of Nazianzus, was a celebrated 4th-century Christian bishop and theologian from Cappadocia, renowned for his influential theological writings and his role in the First Council of Constantinople in 381 AD.
The name Garret also has religious significance, appearing in biblical texts. For instance, the Book of Tobit mentions a character named Garret, who was one of the seven archangels in the apocryphal tradition.
Other notable individuals who bore the name Garret include Garret Augustus Morgan Sr. (1877-1963), an African American inventor best known for patenting the first automatic traffic signal and the safety hood, a precursor to the gas mask. Garret FitzGerald (1913-2011) was an Irish politician who served as Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland from 1981 to 1987.
While the name Garret may have waned in popularity in recent times, it remains an integral part of various cultural and historical contexts, carrying with it a rich legacy spanning multiple centuries and regions.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Garret
People
Garret + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Garret 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
Garret: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Garret?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,339 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Garret 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 27,778 US residents.
Is Garret a common name?
We classify Garret as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,241 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Garret most popular?
The single biggest year for Garret was 2000, when 590 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Garret is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Garret in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,625 people with the name Garret, or 4.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,122 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 Garret 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 Garret?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Garret appears almost entirely male. Of the 12,629 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Garret?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Garret is White at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.3%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Garret most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Garret in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.3% (10,775 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 Garret in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Garret a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Garret 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 Garret still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Garret 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 Garret 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 common is the name Garret?
See how many Americans are named Garret on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.