Millie
A diminutive form of names like Millicent or Camilla, meaning work or strife.
Name Census estimates that about 24,738 living Americans carry the first name Millie. It sits at #86 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Millie today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Millie births was 2024 (2,910 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Dena (24,735).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Millie. 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 Millie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Millie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 212 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
25K
~ 1 in 13,855 Americans
Peak year
2024
2,910 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2021 SSA rank
#86
Tracked since 1880
Census
Millie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 17,073 people with the first name Millie, which placed it at #1,765 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
#1,765
National first-name rank
People counted
17K
17,073 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Millie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Millie is White at 68.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.1%) and Black (8.7%). 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 Millie 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 Millie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.1% · 11,624
- Hispanic or Latino14.1% · 2,406
- Black or African American8.7% · 1,493
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 781
- Two or more races3.4% · 589
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 180
Gender
Gender distribution for Millie
Out of the 42,765 babies given the name Millie since 1880, 99.5% 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.
Millie as a male name
- Ranked #13,425 in 2021
- 5 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1922 (15 births)
Millie as a female name
- Ranked #86 in 2024
- 2,910 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (2,910 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Millie appears almost entirely female. Of the 17,079 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Millie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Millie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 10,871 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Millie 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 Millie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Millies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Millie, while District of Columbia, Vermont, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 637 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Millie
Millie is a diminutive form of the feminine given name Millicent, which is derived from the Germanic words "mildi" meaning "gentle" and "centi" meaning "bright" or "brilliant." The name Millicent first emerged in the Middle Ages, around the 12th century, and was particularly popular among the Norman aristocracy in England.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Millie can be traced back to the 13th century, where it appeared as a shortened form of Millicent in various historical documents. One of the earliest notable figures with the name Millie was Millie de Cantilupe, a 13th-century English noblewoman who was a member of the influential Cantilupe family.
In the 16th century, the name Millie gained popularity as a standalone name, rather than just a diminutive. It became particularly fashionable in England and Scotland during this period. One notable Millie from this era was Millie Napier, a Scottish noblewoman who was the wife of Sir Archibald Napier, the 7th Lord Napier (1534-1608).
During the 17th century, the name Millie continued to be used in various parts of Europe, albeit less frequently than in previous centuries. One notable Millie from this time was Millie Gwyn, a renowned English actress and mistress of King Charles II, who lived from 1642 to 1687.
In the 18th century, the name Millie experienced a resurgence in popularity, particularly in the United States. One notable figure with this name was Millie Disosway, an American woman who was captured by Native Americans during the Revolutionary War and later published a captivity narrative in 1788.
In the 19th century, the name Millie remained in use, though it was not among the most popular names of the era. One notable Millie from this period was Millie Christine McKoy, better known as Christine Nilsson, a Swedish operatic soprano who performed extensively in Europe and the United States between 1864 and 1888.
As you can see, the name Millie has a rich history spanning several centuries and cultures, with notable figures bearing this name in various fields, from nobility and acting to literature and music.
People
Millie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Millie 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
Millie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Millie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 24,738 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Millie 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 13,855 US residents.
Is Millie a common name?
We classify Millie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 42,765 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Millie most popular?
The single biggest year for Millie was 2024, when 2,910 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Millie is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Millie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 17,073 people with the name Millie, or 5.65 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,765 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 Millie 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 Millie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Millie appears almost entirely female. Of the 17,079 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 Millie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Millie is White at 68.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.1%) and Black (8.7%). 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 Millie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Millie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.1% (11,624 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 Millie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Millie a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Millie 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 Millie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Millie 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 Millie 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 common is the name Millie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.