Gustave
Of French origin, meaning "staff of the gods" or "revered god".
Name Census estimates that about 1,423 living Americans carry the first name Gustave. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gustave today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gustave births was 1915 (152 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gustave. 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 Gustave with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 240,867 Americans
Peak year
1915
152 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,258
Tracked since 1880
Census
Gustave in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,646 people with the first name Gustave, which placed it at #8,734 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
#8,734
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,646 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gustave
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gustave is White at 73.5%. The next largest groups are Black (17.7%) and Hispanic (5.6%). 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 Gustave 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 Gustave at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.5% · 1,210
- Black or African American17.7% · 292
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 92
- Two or more races1.8% · 30
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 7
Popularity
Gustave: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gustave from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 1,091 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
Gustave 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 Gustave during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gustaves live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Gustave, while California, Minnesota, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 159 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gustave
The name Gustave originated from the Old Norse name Guðlaugr, which is derived from the words "guð" meaning "god" and "laugr" meaning "bright" or "shining." This name was later adapted into the Old French form "Gustave" during the Middle Ages.
The first recorded use of the name Gustave can be traced back to the 10th century in Scandinavian regions. It gained popularity in France during the 12th and 13th centuries, becoming a common name among the French nobility.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Gustave was Gustave I Vasa, who was the King of Sweden from 1523 to 1560. He played a crucial role in establishing the Swedish nation-state and is considered one of the most influential monarchs in Swedish history.
In the 17th century, the name Gustave was associated with the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes (1596-1650), whose full name was René Descartes du Perron. His philosophical works, including "Discourse on the Method" and "Meditations on First Philosophy," significantly influenced Western philosophy.
Another prominent figure with the name Gustave was the Swedish king Gustav III (1746-1792), who ruled from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was known for his efforts to promote the arts and culture in Sweden, as well as his involvement in the Russo-Swedish War.
In the 19th century, the name Gustave was closely associated with the French novelist and playwright Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880). His masterpiece, "Madame Bovary," is considered one of the greatest novels ever written and a seminal work of literary realism.
The name Gustave was also borne by the German composer Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), renowned for his highly emotional and complex symphonies. His works, such as the "Symphony No. 2" and "Symphony No. 5," continue to be widely performed and admired.
People
Gustave + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gustave 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
Gustave: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gustave?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,423 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gustave 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 240,867 US residents.
Is Gustave a common name?
We classify Gustave as "Rare". It ranks above 92.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,420 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gustave most popular?
The single biggest year for Gustave was 1915, when 152 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gustave is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gustave in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,646 people with the name Gustave, or 0.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,734 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 Gustave 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 Gustave?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gustave appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,647 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 Gustave?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gustave is White at 73.5%. The next largest groups are Black (17.7%) and Hispanic (5.6%). 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 Gustave most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gustave in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.5% (1,210 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 Gustave in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gustave a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gustave 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 Gustave still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gustave 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 Gustave 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 are called Gustave?
Find out how many people have the name Gustave on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.