Gregg
A masculine English name derived from the surname form of Gregory, meaning "watchful, vigilant".
Name Census estimates that about 29,894 living Americans carry the first name Gregg. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gregg today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gregg births was 1962 (1,900 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gregg. 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 Gregg with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Gregg is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 112 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Gregg have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
30K
~ 1 in 11,466 Americans
Peak year
1962
1,900 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,534
Tracked since 1881
Census
Gregg in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 30,570 people with the first name Gregg, which placed it at #1,240 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
#1,240
National first-name rank
People counted
31K
30,570 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gregg
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gregg is White at 90.7%. The next largest groups are Black (3.4%) and Hispanic (2.4%). 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 Gregg 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 Gregg at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.7% · 27,727
- Black or African American3.4% · 1,045
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 727
- Two or more races1.6% · 501
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 454
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 116
Gender
Gender distribution for Gregg
Out of the 36,619 babies given the name Gregg since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Gregg as a male name
- Ranked #8,534 in 2024
- 9 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1962 (1,900 births)
Gregg as a female name
- Ranked #10,289 in 1978
- 5 female births in 1978
- Peak: 1960 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gregg appears almost entirely male. Of the 30,573 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Gregg: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gregg from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 13,849 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gregg 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 Gregg during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Greggs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Gregg, while Alaska, Wyoming, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 663 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gregg
The name Gregg is an English given name derived from the Old English word "græg," which means "gray" or "greyhair." It is believed to have originated in the Anglo-Saxon period, which lasted from the 5th to the 11th century in Britain.
The earliest recorded use of the name Gregg dates back to the 12th century, when it appeared in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and their holdings in England and Wales commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In the Domesday Book, Gregg is listed as a surname, suggesting that the name was already in use as a given name before that time.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Gregg was Gregg of Fife, a Scottish nobleman who lived in the 13th century. Gregg of Fife was a prominent figure in the Scottish Wars of Independence against England, and he fought alongside William Wallace and Robert the Bruce.
Another notable figure with the name Gregg was John Gregg, an English calligrapher and educator who lived from 1806 to 1888. Gregg is best known for developing the Gregg shorthand system, which became widely used in the United States and other countries for taking dictation and recording notes.
In the 20th century, one of the most famous individuals with the name Gregg was Gregg Toland, an American cinematographer who lived from 1904 to 1948. Toland is best known for his innovative camera work on films such as "Citizen Kane" and "The Grapes of Wrath," and he is considered one of the most influential cinematographers in the history of cinema.
Another notable Gregg was Gregg Allman, an American singer-songwriter and musician who lived from 1947 to 2017. Allman was a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential and talented rock musicians of his generation.
Finally, Gregg Popovich is a legendary basketball coach who has been the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs since 1996. Popovich was born in 1949 and has led the Spurs to five NBA championships, cementing his place as one of the greatest coaches in NBA history.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Gregg
People
Gregg + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gregg 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
Gregg: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gregg?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 29,894 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gregg 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 11,466 US residents.
Is Gregg a common name?
We classify Gregg as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 36,619 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gregg most popular?
The single biggest year for Gregg was 1962, when 1,900 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gregg is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gregg in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 30,570 people with the name Gregg, or 10.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,240 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 Gregg 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 Gregg?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gregg appears almost entirely male. Of the 30,573 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Gregg?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gregg is White at 90.7%. The next largest groups are Black (3.4%) and Hispanic (2.4%). 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 Gregg most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gregg in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.7% (27,727 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 Gregg in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gregg a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Gregg 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 Gregg still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gregg 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 Gregg 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 Gregg?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.