Gideon
A masculine Hebrew name meaning "great warrior" or "hewer" or "destroyer".
Name Census estimates that about 20,298 living Americans carry the first name Gideon. It sits at #331 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gideon today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gideon births was 2017 (1,161 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gideon. 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 Gideon with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Gideon is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
20K
~ 1 in 16,886 Americans
Peak year
2017
1,161 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#331
Tracked since 1880
Census
Gideon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,595 people with the first name Gideon, which placed it at #1,854 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
#1,854
National first-name rank
People counted
16K
15,595 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gideon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gideon is White at 68.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.2%) and Hispanic (8.3%). 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 Gideon 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 Gideon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.5% · 10,687
- Black or African American11.2% · 1,744
- Hispanic or Latino8.3% · 1,296
- Two or more races7.4% · 1,159
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 601
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 108
Gender
Gender distribution for Gideon
Out of the 21,288 babies given the name Gideon since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Gideon as a male name
- Ranked #331 in 2024
- 1,042 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (1,161 births)
Gideon as a female name
- Ranked #10,651 in 2022
- 9 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2022 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gideon appears almost entirely male. Of the 15,597 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Gideon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gideon from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 9,230 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Gideon remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gideon 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 Gideon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gideons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Gideon, while Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 354 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gideon
The name Gideon has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "gada," which means "to cut down" or "to fell," and is believed to have been an occupational name for a warrior or someone skilled in battle.
In the Old Testament of the Bible, Gideon was a prominent judge and military leader in ancient Israel, known for his victory over the Midianites with just a small army of 300 men. His story is recounted in the Book of Judges, where he is portrayed as a humble and reluctant hero chosen by God to deliver the Israelites from oppression.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gideon can be found in the Bible, where it appears as the name of the famous judge and military leader. However, the name was likely in use among the Hebrew people even before the biblical account.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Gideon. One of the most famous was Gideon Mantell (1790-1852), an English obstetrician, geologist, and paleontologist who made significant contributions to the study of fossils and prehistoric life.
Another prominent figure with the name Gideon was Gideon Welles (1802-1878), an American politician who served as Secretary of the Navy during the American Civil War under President Abraham Lincoln.
In the realm of literature, Gideon Defoe (born 1976) is a notable British author and screenwriter known for his satirical novels, including the "Pirate!" series.
Gideon Sundback (1880-1954) was a Swedish-American electrical engineer and inventor best known for his work on the zipper, which he patented and helped popularize as a practical clothing fastener.
Gideon Hausner (1915-1990) was an Israeli lawyer and prosecutor who served as the chief prosecutor during the trial of Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi leader responsible for organizing the deportation of millions of Jews to concentration camps during the Holocaust.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Gideon, each leaving their mark in various fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of human achievement.
People
Gideon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gideon 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
Gideon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gideon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20,298 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gideon 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 16,886 US residents.
Is Gideon a common name?
We classify Gideon as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 21,288 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gideon most popular?
The single biggest year for Gideon was 2017, when 1,161 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gideon is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gideon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,595 people with the name Gideon, or 5.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,854 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 Gideon 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 Gideon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gideon appears almost entirely male. Of the 15,597 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Gideon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gideon is White at 68.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.2%) and Hispanic (8.3%). 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 Gideon most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gideon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.5% (10,687 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 Gideon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gideon a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Gideon 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 Gideon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gideon 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 Gideon 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 Gideon?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.