Gomer
One of biblical origin meaning "completion" or "perfect".
Name Census estimates that about 66 living Americans carry the first name Gomer. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gomer today is around 81 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gomer births was 1919 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gomer. 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 Gomer is about 81 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gomers were born before 1955.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Gomer. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
66
~ 1 in 5,193,248 Americans
Peak year
1919
21 babies that year
Average age
81
years old
1968 SSA rank
#4,351
Tracked since 1911
Census
Gomer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 221 people with the first name Gomer, which placed it at #36,071 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
#36,071
National first-name rank
People counted
221
221 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gomer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gomer is White at 54.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (13.1%). 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 Gomer 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 Gomer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.8% · 121
- Hispanic or Latino23.1% · 51
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.1% · 29
- Black or African American5.0% · 11
- Two or more races3.2% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 2
Popularity
Gomer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gomer from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 121 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gomer 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 Gomer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gomers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Ohio recorded the most babies named Gomer, while Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gomer
The name Gomer is of Hebrew origin, derived from the Hebrew word "gomer," which means "complete" or "finisher." It first appeared in the Bible, specifically in the Book of Genesis, where Gomer is mentioned as one of the sons of Japheth, the son of Noah.
In the biblical context, Gomer is considered the progenitor of the ancient Cimmerians, a nomadic people who inhabited the region north of the Black Sea in what is now southern Russia and Ukraine during the 8th to 7th centuries BC. The name is also associated with the prophet Hosea's wife, Gomer, in the Book of Hosea, which is an allegory for the relationship between God and the Israelites.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Gomer was Gomer Gwatkin (1805-1871), an English Anglican priest and academic who served as a canon at Canterbury Cathedral. Another notable figure was Gomer Pyle (1888-1918), a United States Marine who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during World War I.
Gomer Pyle was also the name of a fictional character, portrayed by Jim Nabors, in the 1960s television sitcom "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." The character was a naive but well-meaning Marine recruit from the town of Mayberry, North Carolina.
In the realm of sports, Gomer Hodge (1903-1983) was an American football player who played for the Frankford Yellow Jackets and the Chicago Cardinals in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Gomer Jones (1918-2004) was a professional baseball player who played for the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox in the 1940s.
More recently, Gomer Pyle (born 1946) is an American artist and sculptor known for his large-scale public artworks, many of which incorporate elements of pop culture and humor. His works can be found in various cities across the United States.
People
Gomer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gomer 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
Gomer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gomer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 66 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gomer 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 5,193,248 US residents.
Is Gomer a common name?
We classify Gomer as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 399 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gomer most popular?
The single biggest year for Gomer was 1919, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gomer is about 81 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gomer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 221 people with the name Gomer, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,071 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 Gomer 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 Gomer?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gomer leans strongly male. 209 people counted with this name were male (96.3%), compared with 8 female bearers (3.7%). 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 Gomer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gomer is White at 54.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (13.1%). 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 Gomer most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gomer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.8% (121 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 Gomer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gomer a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gomer 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 Gomer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gomer 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 Gomer 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 common is the name Gomer?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.