Howie
A diminutive form of Howard, meaning "high guard" or "brave heart".
Name Census estimates that about 675 living Americans carry the first name Howie. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Howie today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Howie births was 1957 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Howie. 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 Howie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
675
~ 1 in 507,784 Americans
Peak year
1957
33 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,288
Tracked since 1943
Census
Howie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 920 people with the first name Howie, which placed it at #13,211 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
#13,211
National first-name rank
People counted
920
920 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Howie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Howie is White at 61.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.5%) and Hispanic (7.1%). 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 Howie 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 Howie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.4% · 565
- Asian and Pacific Islander21.5% · 198
- Hispanic or Latino7.1% · 65
- Black or African American6.7% · 62
- Two or more races2.1% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 11
Popularity
Howie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Howie from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 170 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Howie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Howie 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 Howie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Howies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Howie
The name Howie is an English diminutive form of the name Howard, which has its origins in the Old English word "hord" meaning "hoard" or "stockpile." The name Howard was first used as a surname and later adopted as a given name.
The name Howie gained popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the United States and Canada. It was often used as a nickname for people named Howard, but also became a standalone given name in its own right.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Howie can be found in the 1881 census records of England and Wales, where a few instances of the name were documented. However, it was not until the early 20th century that the name gained wider usage.
In terms of historical figures with the name Howie, one notable person was Howie Morenz (1902-1937), a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is considered one of the greatest players of his era. Morenz played for the Montreal Canadiens and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1945.
Another famous Howie was Howie Kendrick (born 1983), an American professional baseball player who played for several teams, including the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Nationals. Kendrick was part of the Nationals team that won the 2019 World Series.
In the world of entertainment, Howie Mandel (born 1955) is a well-known Canadian comedian, actor, and television host. He has been a judge on the reality competition show "America's Got Talent" since 2010.
Howie Epstein (1955-2003) was an American bassist and singer-songwriter who was a member of the rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and The Epics. He was known for his talented bass playing and songwriting contributions.
Howie Carr (born 1952) is an American journalist and author who is best known for his work as a radio talk show host in Boston, Massachusetts. He has also written several books, including "The Brothers Bulger," about the infamous Boston crime family.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Howie. While it may have originated as a diminutive form of Howard, Howie has established itself as a distinct and recognizable name in its own right.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Howie
People
Howie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Howie 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
Howie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Howie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 675 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Howie 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 507,784 US residents.
Is Howie a common name?
We classify Howie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 766 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Howie most popular?
The single biggest year for Howie was 1957, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Howie is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Howie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 920 people with the name Howie, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,211 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 Howie 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 Howie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Howie leans strongly male. 904 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 14 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Howie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Howie is White at 61.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.5%) and Hispanic (7.1%). 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 Howie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Howie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.4% (565 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 Howie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Howie a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Howie 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 Howie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Howie 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 Howie 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 common is the name Howie?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.