Masey
A diminutive form of the English surname Massie, ultimately derived from the pet name of a surname established in Normandy.
Name Census estimates that about 304 living Americans carry the first name Masey. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Masey today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Masey births was 2001 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Masey. 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 Masey with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
304
~ 1 in 1,127,481 Americans
Peak year
2001
21 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2022 SSA rank
#16,853
Tracked since 1990
Census
Masey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 327 people with the first name Masey, which placed it at #27,781 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
#27,781
National first-name rank
People counted
327
327 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Masey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Masey is White at 78.9%. The next largest groups are Black (8.3%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Masey 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 Masey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.9% · 258
- Black or African American8.3% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 17
- Two or more races3.7% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 5
Popularity
Masey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Masey from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 124 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Masey 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 Masey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Masey
The name Masey is an English given name with origins dating back to the late Middle Ages. It is believed to have derived from the Old English word "mæsi," meaning "pasture" or "meadow." The spelling "Masey" emerged in the 15th century as a variant of the more common "Macy" or "Macey."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Masey can be found in the parish records of St. Mary's Church in Warwickshire, England, where a Masey Wilkins was christened in 1487. During the Tudor and Elizabethan periods, the name was particularly popular among English gentry and landowners, likely due to its association with pastoral landscapes and rural estates.
In the 17th century, a notable figure bearing the name Masey was Sir Masey Denton (1592-1672), an English politician and Member of Parliament for Buckinghamshire. He was a staunch Royalist during the English Civil War and was knighted by King Charles I in 1642 for his loyalty and service.
Another prominent individual with the name Masey was Masey Dunkirk (1688-1759), a British naval officer who served in the Royal Navy during the War of the Spanish Succession and the War of the Austrian Succession. He rose to the rank of Vice Admiral and was commended for his bravery and strategic prowess in several naval engagements.
In the 18th century, Masey Symondson (1718-1783) was a respected English clergyman and author. He published several theological works and served as the rector of St. Mary's Church in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.
During the Victorian era, the name Masey enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, particularly among the upper classes. One notable figure from this time was Masey Ellesmere (1829-1901), a British aristocrat and politician who served as the Governor of New Zealand from 1884 to 1889.
While the name Masey has remained relatively uncommon in modern times, it continues to hold historical significance and a connection to its pastoral English roots.
People
Masey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Masey as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Masey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Masey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 304 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Masey 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 1,127,481 US residents.
Is Masey a common name?
We classify Masey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 310 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Masey most popular?
The single biggest year for Masey was 2001, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Masey is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Masey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 327 people with the name Masey, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,781 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 Masey 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 Masey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Masey leans strongly female. 311 people counted with this name were female (95.4%), compared with 15 male bearers (4.6%). 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 Masey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Masey is White at 78.9%. The next largest groups are Black (8.3%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Masey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Masey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.9% (258 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 Masey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Masey a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Masey 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 Masey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Masey 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 Masey 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 share the name Masey?
Want to know how many Americans are named Masey? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.