Geordie
Diminutive form of the name George, an English given name derived from Greek meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".
Name Census estimates that about 83 living Americans carry the first name Geordie. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Geordie today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Geordie births was 1961 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Geordie. 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 Geordie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Geordie. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
83
~ 1 in 4,129,570 Americans
Peak year
1961
8 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,886
Tracked since 1961
Census
Geordie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 216 people with the first name Geordie, which placed it at #36,618 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
#36,618
National first-name rank
People counted
216
216 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Geordie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Geordie is White at 77.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.1%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Geordie 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 Geordie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.8% · 168
- Hispanic or Latino11.1% · 24
- Two or more races4.6% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 6
- Black or African American0.5% · 1
Popularity
Geordie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Geordie from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 24 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Geordie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Geordie 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 Geordie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Geordie
Geordie is a diminutive form of the masculine given name George, which derives from the Greek name Georgios. Georgios was derived from the Greek word georgos meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker". The name is believed to have originated in the late 4th century AD after the ancient Greek language had evolved into its Byzantine form.
The name Geordie started being used more frequently in the north-east counties of England, particularly Northumberland and County Durham, in the 18th century. It became a regional nickname for people from these areas, as well as a term of endearment referring to the local dialect and accent.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Geordie can be found in the historical novel "Marmion" by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1808. In the poem, Scott refers to a "Geordie, an' twas he" as one of the characters.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Geordie. One example is Geordie Kempt (1758-1834), a British Army officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars and was later appointed Governor-General of British North America.
Another famous Geordie was George Stephenson (1781-1848), an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who is celebrated as the "Father of Railways". Stephenson was born in Wylam, Northumberland, and is credited with building the first public inter-city railway line in the world.
In the realm of sports, Geordie Howe (1928-2016) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. He played for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers in the National Hockey League (NHL).
More recently, Geordie Greig (born 1960) is a British journalist and author who served as the editor of the Mail on Sunday newspaper from 2012 to 2019. Greig was born in London but has Scottish roots.
Another notable figure is Geordie Tait (1768-1827), a Scottish-born merchant and businessman who played a significant role in the development of the maritime industry in British North America during the early 19th century.
People
Geordie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Geordie 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
Geordie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Geordie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 83 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Geordie 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 4,129,570 US residents.
Is Geordie a common name?
We classify Geordie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 88 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Geordie most popular?
The single biggest year for Geordie was 1961, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Geordie is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Geordie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 216 people with the name Geordie, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,618 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 Geordie 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 Geordie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Geordie leans strongly male. 191 people counted with this name were male (87.6%), compared with 27 female bearers (12.4%). 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 Geordie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Geordie is White at 77.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.1%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Geordie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Geordie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.8% (168 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 Geordie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Geordie a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Geordie 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 Geordie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Geordie 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 Geordie 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 share the name Geordie?
You can see how many people have the name Geordie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.