Morse
A masculine English name thought to derive from marshwort, an aquatic plant.
Name Census estimates that about 91 living Americans carry the first name Morse. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Morse today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Morse births was 1926 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Morse. 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 Morse is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Morses were born before 1960.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Morse. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
91
~ 1 in 3,766,531 Americans
Peak year
1926
19 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1971 SSA rank
#4,746
Tracked since 1913
Census
Morse in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 179 people with the first name Morse, which placed it at #41,133 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
#41,133
National first-name rank
People counted
179
179 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Morse
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Morse is White at 63.1%. The next largest groups are Black (24.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.0%). 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 Morse 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 Morse at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.1% · 113
- Black or African American24.6% · 44
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.0% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 4
- Two or more races1.7% · 3
Popularity
Morse: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Morse from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 123 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
Morse 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 Morse 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 Morse
The name Morse is derived from the Old English words "mōr" meaning "marsh" and "scīr" meaning "region" or "district". It was originally a surname given to someone who lived near a marsh or wetland area. The name first appeared in written records as early as the 11th century in various parts of England.
The earliest recorded example of the given name Morse dates back to the 12th century, when a man named Morse de Brocton was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Staffordshire in 1166. Another early bearer of the name was Morse le Noreys, who was recorded in the Assize Rolls of Gloucestershire in 1221.
In the 13th century, a prominent figure named Morse de Lacy was a Norman knight and landowner in Herefordshire, England. He was involved in various conflicts and battles during the reign of King John and Henry III.
One of the most famous individuals with the given name Morse was Samuel Morse (1791-1872), the American inventor and painter, best known for contributing to the invention of the morse code and the single-wire telegraph system.
In literature, Morse appears as a character in the novel "The Ambassadors" by Henry James, published in 1903. The character, Lewis Lambert Morse, is an American businessman living in Paris.
Another notable bearer of the name was Morse Peckham (1914-1998), an American literary critic and professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He was known for his influential work on literary theory and the study of romanticism.
Morse Salisbury (1862-1935) was a prominent American journalist and editor, best known for his work as the editor-in-chief of the Chicago Daily Tribune from 1891 to 1911.
While the name Morse has its origins in England, it has been used as a given name in various parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries, over the centuries.
People
Morse + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Morse 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
Morse: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Morse?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 91 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Morse 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 3,766,531 US residents.
Is Morse a common name?
We classify Morse as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 374 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Morse most popular?
The single biggest year for Morse was 1926, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Morse is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Morse in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 179 people with the name Morse, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,133 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 Morse 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 Morse?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Morse leans strongly male. 158 people counted with this name were male (88.3%), compared with 21 female bearers (11.7%). 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 Morse?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Morse is White at 63.1%. The next largest groups are Black (24.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.0%). 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 Morse most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Morse in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.1% (113 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 Morse in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Morse a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Morse 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 Morse still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Morse 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 Morse 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 Morse?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.