Milburn
A masculine given name of Old English origin meaning "mill stream/brook".
Name Census estimates that about 543 living Americans carry the first name Milburn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Milburn today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Milburn births was 1918 (79 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Milburn. 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
- • The typical person named Milburn is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Milburns were born before 1961.
People living today
543
~ 1 in 631,223 Americans
Peak year
1918
79 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1985 SSA rank
#7,237
Tracked since 1884
Census
Milburn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 585 people with the first name Milburn, which placed it at #18,434 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
#18,434
National first-name rank
People counted
585
585 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Milburn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Milburn is White at 85.6%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Milburn 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 Milburn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.6% · 501
- Black or African American7.9% · 46
- Two or more races3.1% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 6
Popularity
Milburn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Milburn from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 590 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Milburn 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 Milburn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Milburns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Milburn, while North Carolina, Maryland, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 57 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Milburn
Milburn is a given name of English origin, derived from the Old English words "mylen" meaning "mill" and "burna" meaning "stream" or "brook." This suggests that the name may have originated from a location near a mill situated on a stream. The name dates back to the Anglo-Saxon period in England, around the 5th to 11th centuries AD.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Milburn can be traced back to the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appeared as a place name, indicating the existence of settlements or villages bearing the name Milburn during that time.
One of the earliest individuals with the given name Milburn was Milburn Hester, an English clergyman born in 1682. He served as the rector of Bircham Newton in Norfolk, England, and was known for his religious writings and sermons.
In the 19th century, Milburn Heister (1830-1903) was a prominent American politician and lawyer from Pennsylvania. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1869 to 1871.
Another notable figure with the name Milburn was Sir Milburn Culpin (1891-1970), a British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He was a pioneer in the field of mental health and played a significant role in the development of psychoanalytic theory and practice in the United Kingdom.
Milburn G. Heister (1900-1992) was an American businessman and philanthropist from Pennsylvania. He made significant contributions to various educational and charitable organizations throughout his lifetime.
Lastly, Milburn Priestly (1924-1984) was a British actor and playwright. He gained recognition for his roles in television series such as "The Avengers" and "The Persuaders!" and also wrote several successful plays during his career.
While the name Milburn has its roots in Old English, it has been used across different regions and cultures over the centuries, reflecting the diverse and rich history associated with this given name.
People
Milburn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Milburn 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
Milburn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Milburn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 543 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Milburn 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 631,223 US residents.
Is Milburn a common name?
We classify Milburn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,234 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Milburn most popular?
The single biggest year for Milburn was 1918, when 79 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Milburn is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Milburn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 585 people with the name Milburn, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,434 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 Milburn 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 Milburn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Milburn leans strongly male. 579 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 10 female bearers (1.7%). 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 Milburn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Milburn is White at 85.6%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Milburn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Milburn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.6% (501 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 Milburn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Milburn a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Milburn 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 Milburn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Milburn 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 Milburn 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 called Milburn?
Find out how many Americans are named Milburn on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.