Master
An honorific title for a man who is exceptionally skilled or qualified.
Name Census estimates that about 431 living Americans carry the first name Master. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Master today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Master births was 2018 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Master. 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.
People living today
431
~ 1 in 795,254 Americans
Peak year
2018
21 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,505
Tracked since 1915
Census
Master in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 566 people with the first name Master, which placed it at #18,900 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
#18,900
National first-name rank
People counted
566
566 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
42.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Master
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Master is Black at 42.6%. The next largest groups are White (27.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.7%). 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 Master 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 Master at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American42.6% · 241
- White27.0% · 153
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.7% · 66
- Hispanic or Latino9.9% · 56
- Two or more races7.4% · 42
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 8
Popularity
Master: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Master from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 122 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Master remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Master 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 Master 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 Master
The given name Master has its origins in the Latin language and can be traced back to the ancient Roman Empire. It derives from the Latin word "magister," which means "master," "teacher," or "leader." This name was initially used to refer to someone who had attained a high level of expertise or authority in a particular field.
In ancient Rome, the title "magister" was given to various high-ranking officials and teachers. For instance, the "magister equitum" was the commander of the Roman cavalry, while the "magister navis" was the captain of a ship. The term was also used to address respected scholars and philosophers who were considered masters of their craft.
The name Master has been documented in various historical texts and records throughout the centuries. In the Middle Ages, it was commonly used as a title for skilled craftsmen and tradesmen who had mastered their craft, such as master carpenters, master masons, and master blacksmiths.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Master can be found in the works of the ancient Roman philosopher and statesman, Cicero, who lived from 106 BC to 43 BC. He referred to several individuals as "magister" in his writings, indicating their mastery in various fields.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Master or a variation of it. Here are five examples:
1. Master Eckhart (c. 1260 - c. 1328): A renowned German theologian, philosopher, and mystic who was a leading figure in the Dominican Order.
2. Master William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616): The legendary English playwright, poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language.
3. Master Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 - 1669): A Dutch painter and etcher, considered one of the greatest artists in the history of Western art.
4. Master Galen (129 - c. 216 AD): A prominent Greek physician, surgeon, and philosopher in the Roman Empire, who influenced the development of Western medical science.
5. Master Confucius (551 - 479 BC): An influential Chinese philosopher, teacher, and political figure, whose teachings and philosophy formed the foundation of Confucianism.
It's important to note that while the name Master has been used throughout history, its primary usage has been as a title or honorific, rather than a given name. It has been employed to denote mastery, authority, or expertise in a particular field or discipline.
People
Master + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Master 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
Master: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Master?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 431 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Master 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 795,254 US residents.
Is Master a common name?
We classify Master as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 467 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Master most popular?
The single biggest year for Master was 2018, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Master is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Master in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 566 people with the name Master, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,900 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 Master 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 Master?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Master leans strongly male. 544 people counted with this name were male (95.9%), compared with 23 female bearers (4.1%). 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 Master?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Master is Black at 42.6%. The next largest groups are White (27.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.7%). 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 Master most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Master in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.6% (241 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 Master in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Master a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Master 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 Master still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Master 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 Master 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 named Master?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.