Millicent
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "industrious strength".
Name Census estimates that about 5,821 living Americans carry the first name Millicent. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Millicent today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Millicent births was 1927 (249 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Millicent. 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 Millicent with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.8K
~ 1 in 58,882 Americans
Peak year
1927
249 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,639
Tracked since 1880
Census
Millicent in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,659 people with the first name Millicent, which placed it at #2,945 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
#2,945
National first-name rank
People counted
7.7K
7,659 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Millicent
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Millicent is White at 49.3%. The next largest groups are Black (40.6%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 Millicent 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 Millicent at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.3% · 3,774
- Black or African American40.6% · 3,106
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 261
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 247
- Two or more races2.9% · 219
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 52
Popularity
Millicent: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Millicent 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 2,014 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
Millicent 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 Millicent during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Millicents live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Millicent, while Oregon, Kentucky, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 169 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Millicent
Millicent is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the Old German words "mil" meaning "work" and "kint" meaning "child" or "kin". The name's meaning is interpreted as "hardworking child" or "diligent child". It gained popularity in England during the Middle Ages, initially as a surname.
The earliest recorded use of the name Millicent dates back to the 12th century. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Millicent de Gournay, a Norman noblewoman who lived in the late 12th century. She was the wife of Roger de Beaumont, Earl of Warwick.
In the 13th century, Millicent Plantagenet, Princess of Wales, was a notable figure who bore the name. She was the daughter of King John of England and his first wife, Isabella of Angoulême. Millicent Plantagenet was born around 1210 and married John de Montfort, Lord of Monmouth, in 1228.
During the 16th century, Millicent Bulstrode (c. 1535 - c. 1585) was an English gentlewoman and landowner. She was the daughter of Sir Richard Bulstrode and inherited significant estates in Buckinghamshire and Middlesex.
In the 17th century, Millicent Fawcett (1847 - 1929) was a prominent British feminist, intellectual, and leader of the Constitutional Suffrage movement. She played a pivotal role in the campaign for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom.
Another notable bearer of the name was Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1879 - 1919), the daughter of Millicent Fawcett. She was a British mathematician and writer, known for her work in promoting women's education and advocating for women's rights.
While the name Millicent fell out of widespread use in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it experienced a revival in popularity in the late 20th century, particularly in English-speaking countries. The name's enduring appeal lies in its unique sound and historical significance.
People
Millicent + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Millicent 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
Millicent: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Millicent?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,821 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Millicent 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 58,882 US residents.
Is Millicent a common name?
We classify Millicent as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,718 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Millicent most popular?
The single biggest year for Millicent was 1927, when 249 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Millicent is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Millicent in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,659 people with the name Millicent, or 2.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,945 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 Millicent 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 Millicent?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Millicent appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,659 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Millicent?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Millicent is White at 49.3%. The next largest groups are Black (40.6%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 Millicent most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Millicent in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.3% (3,774 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 Millicent in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Millicent a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Millicent 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 Millicent still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Millicent 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 Millicent 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 have Millicent as a first name?
See how many people have the name Millicent on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.