Gibbs
A diminutive form of the name Gilbert, derived from Germanic elements meaning "bright pledge".
Name Census estimates that about 52 living Americans carry the first name Gibbs. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gibbs today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gibbs births was 1929 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gibbs. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Gibbs. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
52
~ 1 in 6,591,430 Americans
Peak year
1929
8 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,891
Tracked since 1917
Census
Gibbs in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 216 people with the first name Gibbs, 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
66.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gibbs
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gibbs is White at 66.7%. The next largest groups are Black (25.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.8%). 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 Gibbs 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 Gibbs at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.7% · 144
- Black or African American25.0% · 54
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 5
- Two or more races2.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 2
Popularity
Gibbs: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gibbs from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 23 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gibbs 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 Gibbs 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 Gibbs
The name Gibbs is of English origin and is believed to have its roots in the Old English word "gib," meaning a male kid or young goat. This association with a young goat may have been used as a nickname or descriptive term for an energetic or lively person.
In the Middle Ages, the name Gibbs emerged as a variation of the name Gilbert, a French form of the Germanic name Gisalbart, which means "bright pledge" or "distinguished vow." The transition from Gilbert to Gibbs likely occurred due to the common practice of shortening and modifying names over time.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gibbs can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The entry mentions a landowner named "Gibbe" in Buckinghamshire.
The name Gibbs has been associated with several notable figures throughout history. One of the earliest was Sir Ralph Gibbs (c. 1310-1366), an English soldier and landowner who fought in the Hundred Years' War. Another early bearer of the name was John Gibbs (c. 1500-1589), a renowned English Protestant reformer and bishop during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
In the 17th century, Robert Gibbs (1591-1658) was a prominent English minister and author who wrote extensively on religious topics. During the same period, Gervase Gibbs (1637-1680) was a notable English lawyer and politician who served as a Member of Parliament for Huntingdon.
In more recent times, Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839-1903) was an influential American scientist and mathematician who made significant contributions to the fields of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. His pioneering work laid the foundation for the modern understanding of chemical equilibrium and phase transitions.
Another noteworthy figure was Sir Philip Gibbs (1877-1962), an English journalist and author who gained fame for his reports as a war correspondent during World War I. His eyewitness accounts of the Western Front, published in books like "The Realities of War" and "Souls in Khaki," provided a vivid and harrowing portrayal of the conflict.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have borne the name Gibbs, a name that has endured for centuries and carries a rich heritage rooted in the English language and cultural traditions.
People
Gibbs + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gibbs 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
Gibbs: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gibbs?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 52 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gibbs 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 6,591,430 US residents.
Is Gibbs a common name?
We classify Gibbs as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 81 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gibbs most popular?
The single biggest year for Gibbs was 1929, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gibbs is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gibbs in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 216 people with the name Gibbs, 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 Gibbs 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 Gibbs?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gibbs leans strongly male. 191 people counted with this name were male (90.5%), compared with 20 female bearers (9.5%). 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 Gibbs?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gibbs is White at 66.7%. The next largest groups are Black (25.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.8%). 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 Gibbs most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gibbs in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.7% (144 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 Gibbs in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gibbs a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gibbs 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 Gibbs still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gibbs 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 Gibbs 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 Gibbs?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Gibbs, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.