Milt
A masculine name meaning "mill worker" or "mill town".
Name Census estimates that about 25 living Americans carry the first name Milt. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Milt today is around 74 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Milt births was 1956 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Milt. 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 Milt is about 74 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Milts were born before 1962.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Milt. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
25
~ 1 in 13,710,174 Americans
Peak year
1956
7 babies that year
Average age
74
years old
1960 SSA rank
#3,552
Tracked since 1917
Census
Milt in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 273 people with the first name Milt, which placed it at #31,391 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
#31,391
National first-name rank
People counted
273
273 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Milt
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Milt is White at 82.4%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.4%). 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 Milt 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 Milt at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.4% · 225
- Black or African American7.3% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 8
- Two or more races2.2% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2
Popularity
Milt: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Milt from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 24 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
Milt 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 Milt during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Milt
The name Milt is an English diminutive form of the name Milton, which is derived from the Old English words "mill" and "tun," meaning "mill town." The name originated in England, likely around the 8th or 9th century when many place names were formed from these types of descriptive terms.
In the Middle Ages, the name Milton was used as a surname for someone who lived near a mill or in a mill town. It later transitioned into use as a given name as well. The shortened form, Milt, emerged as a nickname or diminutive variation of Milton.
One of the earliest and most notable historical figures with the name Milt was Milt Shapp, an American businessman and politician who served as the 38th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1979. He was born Milton Jerrold Shapiro in 1912 and passed away in 1994.
Another notable Milt was Milt Richman, an American sportswriter and columnist who was best known for his work with United Press International and the New York Mirror. He was born Milton Richman in 1922 and died in 1986.
In the world of music, Milt Hinton was a prominent jazz bassist and photographer. Born Milton John Hinton in 1910, he played with many legendary artists and is considered one of the most recorded bassists in history. He passed away in 2000.
Milt Gross was an American cartoonist, writer, and filmmaker who created the popular comic strip "Nize Baby." He was born Milton Gross in 1895 and died in 1953.
Milt Gabler was an American record producer and businessman who played a significant role in the development of the jazz and rock and roll genres. Born Milton Gabler in 1911, he worked with artists like Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong before passing away in 2001.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who carried the name Milt, a diminutive form of the Old English name Milton, which originally referred to someone living near a mill or in a mill town.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Milt
People
Milt + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Milt 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
Milt: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Milt?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 25 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Milt 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 13,710,174 US residents.
Is Milt a common name?
We classify Milt as "Very Rare". It ranks above 43.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 70 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Milt most popular?
The single biggest year for Milt was 1956, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Milt is about 74 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Milt in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 273 people with the name Milt, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,391 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 Milt 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 Milt?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Milt appears almost entirely male. Of the 274 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Milt?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Milt is White at 82.4%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.4%). 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 Milt most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Milt in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.4% (225 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 Milt in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Milt a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Milt 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 Milt still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Milt 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 Milt 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 the name Milt?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.