Goble
A French surname transferred to an English masculine given name of uncertain meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 16 living Americans carry the first name Goble. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Goble today is around 85 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Goble births was 1922 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Goble. 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 Goble is about 85 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gobles were born before 1951.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Goble. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
16
~ 1 in 21,422,146 Americans
Peak year
1922
10 babies that year
Average age
85
years old
1950 SSA rank
#3,884
Tracked since 1900
Popularity
Goble: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Goble from the 1900s through to the 1950s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 55 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
Goble 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 Goble during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gobles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Goble
The given name Goble is believed to have originated from the Old English word "gobell," which means "platter" or "dish." This name likely emerged in the Anglo-Saxon period, sometime between the 5th and 11th centuries CE, in what is now England. It may have initially been used as a surname for those who worked as potters or dish makers.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Goble can be found in the Domesday Book, a great survey of landowners and tenants commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as a surname, indicating that it had already been in use for some time before the Norman conquest of England.
In the 13th century, a man named Goble de Arundel is mentioned in the records of the county of Sussex, England. This suggests that the name had begun to transition from a surname to a given name by that time.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure named Goble Bartlett (1535-1604) was a prominent English merchant and member of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers in London.
In the 17th century, Goble Needham (1620-1691) was a prominent English minister and theologian who served as the vicar of St. Mary's Church in Havant, Hampshire.
Another individual of note was Goble Trevelyan (1790-1867), a British civil servant and colonial administrator who served as the Governor of Madras Presidency in India from 1859 to 1860.
In the 19th century, Goble Parmenter (1816-1890) was an American politician who served as the 26th Governor of Massachusetts from 1879 to 1880.
One of the more recent individuals with this name was Goble Jessup (1900-1986), an American artist and illustrator known for his work in children's literature, particularly for his illustrations in the classic book "The Little House" by Virginia Lee Burton.
People
Goble + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Goble 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
Goble: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Goble?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 16 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Goble 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 21,422,146 US residents.
Is Goble a common name?
We classify Goble as "Very Rare". It ranks above 36.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 109 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Goble most popular?
The single biggest year for Goble was 1922, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Goble is about 85 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Goble in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Goble a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Goble 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 Goble still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Goble 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 Goble 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Goble?
See how many people share the name Goble on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.