Mosby
An English surname transferred to forename use, possibly deriving from a metonymic occupational name.
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Mosby. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mosby today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mosby births was 1920 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mosby. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Mosby. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1920
9 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2016 SSA rank
#13,567
Tracked since 1920
Popularity
Mosby: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mosby from the 1920s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 9 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Mosby remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mosby 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 Mosby during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mosbys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mosby
The name Mosby is believed to have originated from the Old English words "mos" meaning "marsh" and "by" meaning "settlement" or "town." It was likely a place name referring to a settlement near a marshy area, which later became a surname and then a given name.
In the early medieval period, names derived from places were common among the Anglo-Saxons in England. The name Mosby may have first appeared as a surname during the Norman Conquest of England in the 11th century, when many place names were adopted as surnames by noble families and landowners.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mosby can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a survey of landowners and properties in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. This suggests that the name has been in use for at least a thousand years.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Mosby. One of the most well-known was John Singleton Mosby, an American Confederate Army cavalry battalion commander during the American Civil War, born in 1833 and died in 1916. He was famous for his daring raids and tactical skills, earning him the nickname "The Gray Ghost."
Another prominent figure with the name Mosby was James Andrew Mosby, an American lawyer and politician from Missouri, who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1857 to 1863. He was born in 1820 and died in 1896.
In the literary world, there was Eleanora Louisa Mosby, an American novelist and poet born in 1846 and died in 1910. She was known for her works that explored themes of love, loss, and nature.
A more recent example is Mosby Parsons, an American fashion designer and entrepreneur, born in 1937, who founded the clothing brand Mosby Parsons Designs in the 1960s and became known for her innovative and colorful designs.
Lastly, Mosby G. Perrow Jr. was an American jurist who served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1961 to 1987. He was born in 1902 and died in 1992.
These examples illustrate the long history and diverse backgrounds of individuals who have borne the name Mosby, which has its roots in the language and geography of medieval England.
People
Mosby + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mosby 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
Mosby: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mosby?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mosby 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Mosby a common name?
We classify Mosby as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mosby most popular?
The single biggest year for Mosby was 1920, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mosby is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Mosby in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mosby a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mosby 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 Mosby still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mosby 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 Mosby 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Mosby?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.