Lexington
Derived from an English town name meaning "town of the followers of a leader named Lexa".
Name Census estimates that about 2,285 living Americans carry the first name Lexington. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 56.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Lexington today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lexington births was 2018 (153 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lexington. 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
- • Lexington sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Lexington is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 150,002 Americans
Peak year
2018
153 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,559
Tracked since 1987
Census
Lexington in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,609 people with the first name Lexington, which placed it at #8,868 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
#8,868
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,609 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lexington
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lexington is White at 58.3%. The next largest groups are Black (19.1%) and Hispanic (10.2%). 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 Lexington 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 Lexington at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.3% · 938
- Black or African American19.1% · 307
- Hispanic or Latino10.2% · 164
- Two or more races9.6% · 155
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 15
Gender
Gender distribution for Lexington
Lexington is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,309 total registrations, 1,011 (43.8%) were male and 1,298 (56.2%) were female.
Lexington as a male name
- Ranked #3,559 in 2024
- 32 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (92 births)
Lexington as a female name
- Ranked #4,715 in 2024
- 29 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (83 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lexington on both sides of the split. Of the 1,618 people counted with this name, 661 were male (40.9%) and 957 were female (59.1%).
Popularity
Lexington: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lexington from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,118 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Lexington remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lexington 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 Lexington during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lexingtons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Lexington, while Washington, Ohio, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lexington
The given name Lexington is of English origin, derived from the town of Lexington in Massachusetts, United States. The town itself was named after Lord Lexington, an English peer whose title traced back to the village of Laxington in Nottinghamshire, England. The root of the name is believed to be from the Old English words "leac" meaning "lake" or "stream" and "tun" meaning "town" or "settlement."
The name Lexington first gained widespread recognition after the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775, which marked the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. This historic event brought the town of Lexington into the public consciousness, and the name gradually started being used as a given name, particularly in the United States.
One of the earliest recorded examples of Lexington as a given name is Lexington Willard, born in 1807 in Massachusetts. He was named after the town to commemorate the Battle of Lexington. Another notable individual with this name was Lexington E. Moody (1824-1904), a prominent banker and businessman from Massachusetts.
In the 19th century, a few notable figures bore the name Lexington. These include Lexington C. Dunbar (1824-1863), a Union Army officer during the American Civil War, and Lexington W. Stephens (1838-1920), a Confederate Army officer from Georgia.
In the 20th century, the name Lexington saw more widespread use, albeit still relatively rare. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Lexington Steele (born Walter Roberts III in 1969), an American adult film actor and director. Another notable person was Lexington H. Smith (1920-1994), a prominent American architect known for his work in the state of Texas.
Other historical figures with the name Lexington include Lexington R. Lomax (1835-1892), a lawyer and politician from Alabama, and Lexington L. Callaway (1877-1952), a businessman and philanthropist from Georgia.
While the name Lexington is not among the most common given names, it has a rich historical connection to the American Revolutionary War and the town that played a pivotal role in the nation's founding. Its unique origin and meaning have made it a distinctive choice for parents seeking a name with historical significance.
People
Lexington + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lexington as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lexington: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lexington?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,285 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lexington 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 150,002 US residents.
Is Lexington a common name?
We classify Lexington as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,309 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lexington most popular?
The single biggest year for Lexington was 2018, when 153 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lexington is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lexington in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,609 people with the name Lexington, or 0.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,868 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 Lexington 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 Lexington?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lexington on both sides of the split. Of the 1,618 people counted with this name, 661 were male (40.9%) and 957 were female (59.1%). 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 Lexington?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lexington is White at 58.3%. The next largest groups are Black (19.1%) and Hispanic (10.2%). 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 Lexington most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lexington in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.3% (938 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 Lexington in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lexington a female name?
Yes, 56.2% of people registered as Lexington 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 Lexington still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lexington 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 Lexington 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 Americans are named Lexington?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.