Guilford
From an English place name meaning "golden ford".
Name Census estimates that about 141 living Americans carry the first name Guilford. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Guilford today is around 78 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Guilford births was 1923 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Guilford. 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 Guilford is about 78 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Guilfords were born before 1958.
People living today
141
~ 1 in 2,430,882 Americans
Peak year
1923
22 babies that year
Average age
78
years old
1973 SSA rank
#5,380
Tracked since 1885
Popularity
Guilford: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Guilford from the 1880s through to the 1970s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 165 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
Guilford 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 Guilford during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Guilfords live
Origin
Meaning and history of Guilford
The name Guilford is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is believed to have originated in England during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English words "gilden" and "ford," which together mean "golden ford" or "golden river crossing." This suggests that the name may have been initially given to someone who lived near a golden-hued river or stream.
The earliest recorded use of the name Guilford dates back to the 12th century. In the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire from 1191, there is a mention of a person named "Gildforde de Wica." This indicates that the name was already in use by the late 12th century, although its popularity was likely limited at the time.
Over the centuries, the name Guilford has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest was Guilford Dudley (c. 1535-1554), an English nobleman who was briefly married to Lady Jane Grey, the so-called "Nine Days' Queen" of England. Dudley was executed for his involvement in the attempt to place Jane on the throne.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Guilford Dudley Phelps (1804-1891), an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Representative from Missouri in the 1850s. He was also a prominent member of the Democratic Party and served as the Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives.
In the realm of literature, Guilford Lindsey Dudley (1864-1958) was an American writer and journalist who authored several novels and short stories set in the American South. His most famous work is the novel "The Windfall," published in 1924.
The name Guilford also has a connection to academia. Guilford College, a liberal arts institution in Greensboro, North Carolina, was founded in 1837 and named after the nearby Guilford County. The college's first president was Guilford Lewis, who served from 1837 to 1848.
Finally, in the field of science, Guilford Dudley Holcomb (1904-1987) was an American biologist and geneticist who made significant contributions to the understanding of heredity and the genetics of corn. He spent most of his career at the University of Illinois, where he conducted groundbreaking research on the inheritance patterns of various traits in corn plants.
People
Guilford + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Guilford 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
Guilford: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Guilford?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 141 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Guilford 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 2,430,882 US residents.
Is Guilford a common name?
We classify Guilford as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 589 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Guilford most popular?
The single biggest year for Guilford was 1923, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Guilford is about 78 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Guilford a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Guilford 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.
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.