Mildred
A feminine name of English origin meaning "gentle strength".
Name Census estimates that about 52,928 living Americans carry the first name Mildred. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mildred today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mildred births was 1920 (18,099 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mildred. 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 Mildred with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Mildred is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,583 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Mildred is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Mildreds were born before 1961.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Mildred have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
53K
~ 1 in 6,476 Americans
Peak year
1920
18,099 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1970 SSA rank
#2,105
Tracked since 1880
Census
Mildred in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 83,145 people with the first name Mildred, which placed it at #636 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
#636
National first-name rank
People counted
83K
83,145 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
27.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mildred
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mildred is White at 63.1%. The next largest groups are Black (20.7%) and Hispanic (11.4%). 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 Mildred 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 Mildred at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.1% · 52,502
- Black or African American20.7% · 17,234
- Hispanic or Latino11.4% · 9,501
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 1,923
- Two or more races1.7% · 1,380
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 605
Gender
Gender distribution for Mildred
Out of the 452,895 babies given the name Mildred 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.
Mildred as a male name
- Ranked #4,102 in 1970
- 7 male births in 1970
- Peak: 1926 (52 births)
Mildred as a female name
- Ranked #2,105 in 2024
- 91 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (18,060 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mildred appears almost entirely female. Of the 83,139 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Mildred: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mildred from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 147,624 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
Mildred 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 Mildred during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mildreds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois recorded the most babies named Mildred, while Alaska, Nevada, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7,750 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mildred
The name Mildred has its roots in the Germanic languages, deriving from the Old English words "milde" meaning gentle or merciful, and "þræd" meaning strength or might. It was a popular name among the Anglo-Saxons and the earliest recorded spelling was "Mildriþ" in the Domesday Book of 1086, a survey commissioned by William the Conqueror.
The name is believed to have been introduced to England by German missionaries and it gained popularity during the Middle Ages. One of the earliest notable bearers of the name was Saint Mildred, a 7th-century abbess of the monastery on the Isle of Thanet in Kent, England. She was revered for her piety and charity, and her feast day is celebrated on July 13th.
Another prominent figure in history associated with the name Mildred was Mildred, Lady Burghley (1528-1589), an English noblewoman and the wife of Lord Burghley, who served as Lord Treasurer under Queen Elizabeth I. She was known for her intelligence and influence in political circles during the Elizabethan era.
In the 19th century, Mildred was a fashionable name among the upper classes in Britain and the United States. One notable bearer of the name was Mildred Barnes Bliss (1879-1969), an American philanthropist and co-founder of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, D.C. She was a prominent figure in the arts and humanities.
Another famous Mildred was Mildred Elizabeth Gillars (1900-1988), an American broadcaster who earned the nickname "Axis Sally" for her propaganda broadcasts during World War II, aimed at undermining the morale of Allied forces. She was convicted of treason in 1949 and served a 12-year prison sentence.
Mildred Ella Didrikson Zaharias (1914-1983) was an American athlete and one of the greatest female athletes of the 20th century. She excelled in multiple sports, including golf, basketball, and track and field, and was known for her exceptional skill and determination.
While the name Mildred was popular in the early 20th century, its usage has declined significantly in recent decades, though it remains a part of the rich tapestry of English-language names with a fascinating historical legacy.
People
Mildred + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mildred 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
Mildred: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mildred?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 52,928 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mildred 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 6,476 US residents.
Is Mildred a common name?
We classify Mildred as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 452,895 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mildred most popular?
The single biggest year for Mildred was 1920, when 18,099 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mildred 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 Mildred in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 83,145 people with the name Mildred, or 27.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #636 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 Mildred 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 Mildred?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mildred appears almost entirely female. Of the 83,139 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Mildred?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mildred is White at 63.1%. The next largest groups are Black (20.7%) and Hispanic (11.4%). 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 Mildred most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mildred in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.1% (52,502 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 Mildred in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mildred a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Mildred 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 Mildred still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mildred 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 Mildred 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 Mildred?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Mildred at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.