Homer
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "hostage" or "pledge".
Name Census estimates that about 14,731 living Americans carry the first name Homer. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Homer today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Homer births was 1920 (1,734 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Homer. 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
- • Although Homer is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 367 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Homer is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Homers were born before 1965.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Homer have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
15K
~ 1 in 23,268 Americans
Peak year
1920
1,734 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,105
Tracked since 1880
Census
Homer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,531 people with the first name Homer, which placed it at #1,932 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
#1,932
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
14,531 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Homer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Homer is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Black (14.0%) and Hispanic (8.8%). 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 Homer 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 Homer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.8% · 10,294
- Black or African American14.0% · 2,034
- Hispanic or Latino8.8% · 1,274
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 422
- Two or more races2.3% · 327
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 180
Gender
Gender distribution for Homer
Out of the 61,258 babies given the name Homer since 1880, 99.4% 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.
Homer as a male name
- Ranked #4,105 in 2024
- 26 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (1,722 births)
Homer as a female name
- Ranked #6,889 in 1965
- 5 female births in 1965
- Peak: 1924 (21 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Homer appears almost entirely male. Of the 14,540 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Homer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Homer from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 15,297 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
Homer 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 Homer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Homers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Homer, while Hawaii, Delaware, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,031 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Homer
The name Homer has its origins in ancient Greek language and culture, dating back to the 8th century BC. It is derived from the Greek word "homeros," which means "hostage" or "pledge." The name is believed to have been derived from the Greek verb "homeresthai," meaning "to join together."
One of the earliest and most famous references to the name Homer is in connection with the legendary ancient Greek poet, author of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. This Homer, whose existence and identity have been the subject of much scholarly debate, is believed to have lived around the 8th century BC.
In ancient Greek mythology, Homer was also the name of a legendary blind poet and singer, who was said to have been the son of the river god Meles and the nymph Critheïs. This mythological figure was often depicted as an elderly blind man, playing a lyre.
Throughout history, the name Homer has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest recorded examples is Homer of Byzantium, a grammarian and critic who lived in the 2nd century BC. Another notable figure was Homer of Alexandria, a Greek grammarian and critic who lived in the 3rd century AD.
In more recent times, the name Homer has been carried by several famous writers and poets. These include the American poet Homer Baxter Sprague (1829-1918), the American poet and essayist Homer Greene (1853-1940), and the British poet and translator Homer Sykes (1949-2017).
Other notable individuals with the name Homer include Homer Plessy (1862-1925), the American activist who was the plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson, and Homer Laughlin (1835-1913), the American businessman and founder of the Homer Laughlin China Company.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Homer
People
Homer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Homer as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Homer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Homer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14,731 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Homer 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 23,268 US residents.
Is Homer a common name?
We classify Homer as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 61,258 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Homer most popular?
The single biggest year for Homer was 1920, when 1,734 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Homer is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Homer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,531 people with the name Homer, or 4.81 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,932 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 Homer 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 Homer?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Homer appears almost entirely male. Of the 14,540 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Homer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Homer is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Black (14.0%) and Hispanic (8.8%). 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 Homer most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Homer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.8% (10,294 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 Homer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Homer a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Homer 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 Homer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Homer 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 Homer 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 Homer as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Homer on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.