Gilford
Of Old English origin, referring to a ford across a river near a hill.
Name Census estimates that about 450 living Americans carry the first name Gilford. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gilford today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gilford births was 1922 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gilford. 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
- • The typical person named Gilford is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gilfords were born before 1966.
People living today
450
~ 1 in 761,676 Americans
Peak year
1922
40 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
1984 SSA rank
#6,677
Tracked since 1884
Census
Gilford in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 453 people with the first name Gilford, which placed it at #22,110 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
#22,110
National first-name rank
People counted
453
453 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gilford
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gilford is White at 59.4%. The next largest groups are Black (29.8%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (4.2%). 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 Gilford 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 Gilford at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.4% · 269
- Black or African American29.8% · 135
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.2% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 13
- Two or more races2.0% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 8
Popularity
Gilford: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gilford from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 268 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gilford 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 Gilford during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gilfords live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma recorded the most babies named Gilford, while Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gilford
The given name Gilford is an English name that originated in the medieval period, likely derived from the Old English words "gild" meaning "golden" and "ford" meaning "a shallow river crossing." It is believed to have been initially used as a surname, referring to someone who lived near a golden-colored ford or river crossing.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gilford can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and their holdings commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. It mentions a landowner named Gilford, though the exact spelling may have varied slightly.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Gilford remained relatively uncommon, primarily used by rural landowners and farmers in England. However, it gained some prominence during the Renaissance period, when a few notable individuals bore the name.
One such individual was Gilford Dudley (c. 1535-1554), the younger son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. He was executed alongside his father during the reign of Queen Mary I for their involvement in the attempt to place Lady Jane Grey on the English throne.
Another notable bearer of the name was Sir Gilford Lawton (1605-1676), an English soldier and Member of Parliament who fought for the Royalist cause during the English Civil War.
In the 18th century, Gilford Studholme (1708-1776) was a prominent English landowner and politician who served as a Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire.
Moving into the 19th century, Gilford Young (1837-1890) was a British architect and surveyor who designed several notable buildings in London, including the Church of St Stephen's in Hampstead.
During the Victorian era, the name Gilford also appeared in literary works, such as the character Gilford Saye in the novel "Redburn" by Herman Melville, published in 1849.
While the name Gilford has never been extremely popular, it has maintained a presence throughout English history, often associated with individuals from rural or landed backgrounds. Its origins can be traced back to the Old English language, reflecting the cultural and linguistic heritage of England during the medieval period.
People
Gilford + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gilford 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
Gilford: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gilford?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 450 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gilford 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 761,676 US residents.
Is Gilford a common name?
We classify Gilford as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,225 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gilford most popular?
The single biggest year for Gilford was 1922, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gilford is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gilford in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 453 people with the name Gilford, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,110 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 Gilford 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 Gilford?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gilford leans strongly male. 463 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 5 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Gilford?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gilford is White at 59.4%. The next largest groups are Black (29.8%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (4.2%). 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 Gilford most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gilford in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.4% (269 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 Gilford in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gilford a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gilford 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 Gilford still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gilford 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 Gilford 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 Gilford as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Gilford, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.