Maude
A French feminine diminutive of Maud or Matilda meaning "mighty battle maid".
Name Census estimates that about 2,603 living Americans carry the first name Maude. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maude today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maude births was 1888 (1,406 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maude. 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 Maude with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Maude is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 133 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Maude is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Maudes were born before 1965.
- • Compared to the 1880s, recent registration numbers for Maude have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
2.6K
~ 1 in 131,677 Americans
Peak year
1888
1,406 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
1929 SSA rank
#3,724
Tracked since 1880
Census
Maude in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,254 people with the first name Maude, which placed it at #5,316 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
#5,316
National first-name rank
People counted
3.3K
3,254 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maude
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maude is White at 57.3%. The next largest groups are Black (35.5%) and Two or More Races (2.6%). 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 Maude 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 Maude at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.3% · 1,865
- Black or African American35.5% · 1,154
- Two or more races2.6% · 86
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 73
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 48
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 28
Gender
Gender distribution for Maude
Out of the 45,841 babies given the name Maude since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Maude as a male name
- Ranked #4,348 in 1929
- 5 male births in 1929
- Peak: 1894 (13 births)
Maude as a female name
- Ranked #3,724 in 2024
- 41 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1888 (1,396 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maude appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,252 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Maude: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maude from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1880s, with 11,502 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1880s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maude 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 Maude during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maudes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia recorded the most babies named Maude, while North Dakota, District of Columbia, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 307 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maude
The name Maude is derived from the Germanic name Mahthildis, which is composed of the elements "maht" meaning "might" or "strength" and "hild" meaning "battle." It has its origins in the Old French form Mahaut or Maholt.
The earliest recorded use of the name Maude can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It became popular in England and France during this time, particularly among the nobility. One of the earliest notable bearers of the name was Maude, Countess of Huntingdon (c. 1074-1130), daughter of King Henry I of England.
In the 12th century, the name gained further prominence when Matilda (also known as Maude) of England (1102-1167), daughter of King Henry I, engaged in a long-running dispute over the English throne with her cousin, Stephen of Blois. This conflict, known as "The Anarchy," lasted from 1135 to 1153.
Another historical figure with the name Maude was Matilda of Boulogne (c. 1105-1152), wife of King Stephen of England. She played a significant role in the conflict between her husband and her cousin, Matilda of England, over the English throne.
In the 13th century, Maude de Braose (c. 1224-1301) was a Welsh noblewoman who was imprisoned by King Edward I for her involvement in a baronial revolt against him.
During the Renaissance period, Maude de Mortimer (c. 1284-1345) was an English noblewoman who was briefly married to Theobald de Verdun, a powerful baron in medieval England.
Over the centuries, the name Maude has been borne by various other notable individuals, including Maude Adams (1872-1953), an American actress renowned for her portrayal of Peter Pan on Broadway, and Maude Fealy (1883-1971), an American stage and film actress.
People
Maude + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maude 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
Maude: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maude?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,603 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maude 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 131,677 US residents.
Is Maude a common name?
We classify Maude as "Rare". It ranks above 94.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 45,841 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maude most popular?
The single biggest year for Maude was 1888, when 1,406 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maude 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 Maude in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,254 people with the name Maude, or 1.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,316 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 Maude 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 Maude?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maude appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,252 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Maude?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maude is White at 57.3%. The next largest groups are Black (35.5%) and Two or More Races (2.6%). 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 Maude most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maude in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.3% (1,865 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 Maude in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maude a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Maude 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 Maude still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maude 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 Maude 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 Maude?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.