Grier
From a Scottish surname derived from the Old French word grière meaning "watchman's hut".
Name Census estimates that about 623 living Americans carry the first name Grier. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 55.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Grier today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Grier births was 2009 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Grier. 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 Grier with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Grier started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
People living today
623
~ 1 in 550,167 Americans
Peak year
2009
43 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,456
Tracked since 1916
Census
Grier in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 692 people with the first name Grier, which placed it at #16,339 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
#16,339
National first-name rank
People counted
692
692 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Grier
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Grier is White at 82.8%. The next largest groups are Black (9.0%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Grier 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 Grier at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.8% · 573
- Black or African American9.0% · 62
- Two or more races4.9% · 34
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Grier
Grier is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 730 total registrations, 326 (44.7%) were male and 404 (55.3%) were female.
Grier as a male name
- Ranked #9,266 in 2024
- 8 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (14 births)
Grier as a female name
- Ranked #6,456 in 2024
- 18 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (33 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Grier on both sides of the split. Of the 688 people counted with this name, 289 were male (42.0%) and 399 were female (58.0%).
Popularity
Grier: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Grier from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 245 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Grier remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Grier 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 Grier during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Griers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. North Carolina, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Grier, while Texas, Illinois, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Grier
The given name Grier has its origins in the Scottish Lowlands, derived from the Old English word "gryre," meaning "watchman" or "guardian." It first emerged in the 12th century as a surname for those who held the occupation of a watchman or sentinel.
In the Middle Ages, the name Grier was commonly found in various regions of Scotland, particularly in the border areas with England. It gained prominence among Scottish clans and families, serving as a mark of their heritage and cultural identity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Grier dates back to the 14th century, when a Robert Grier was listed as a witness in a legal document in Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1379. This suggests that the name was already in use and established during that time period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Grier. One such figure was Robert Cooper Grier (1794-1870), an American jurist who served as a Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1846 to 1870. He played a significant role in several landmark cases, including the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision.
Another prominent individual with the name Grier was William Grier (1875-1923), a Scottish-American actor and filmmaker who appeared in several silent films during the early 20th century. He is particularly remembered for his roles in films such as "The Squaw Man" (1914) and "The Virginian" (1914).
In the literary realm, Alastair Grier (1918-2008) was a British author and historian known for his works on Scottish history and culture. His notable publications include "The Scottish West Highlands: The Aristocratic Territorian Principals" (1986) and "The Капитал of Scotland" (1995).
Moving into the world of sports, Rosey Grier (born 1932) is an American former professional football player and actor. He played as a defensive lineman for the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1950s and 1960s. Grier was also known for his activism and advocacy work, particularly in the areas of urban renewal and youth outreach programs.
Lastly, Eunice Grier (1923-2015) was an American civil rights activist and educator who played a pivotal role in the desegregation of public schools in the United States. She served as the first African American member of the Nashville Board of Education and worked tirelessly to promote equal educational opportunities for all students, regardless of race.
People
Grier + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Grier 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
Grier: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Grier?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 623 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Grier 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 550,167 US residents.
Is Grier a common name?
We classify Grier as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 730 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Grier most popular?
The single biggest year for Grier was 2009, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Grier is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Grier in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 692 people with the name Grier, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,339 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 Grier 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 Grier?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Grier on both sides of the split. Of the 688 people counted with this name, 289 were male (42.0%) and 399 were female (58.0%). 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 Grier?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Grier is White at 82.8%. The next largest groups are Black (9.0%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Grier most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Grier in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.8% (573 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 Grier in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Grier a female name?
Yes, 55.3% of people registered as Grier in the SSA data are female. 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 Grier still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Grier 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 Grier 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 Grier as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Grier on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.