Naomi
A Hebrew feminine name meaning "pleasant, lovely, delightful".
Roughly 128,523 people in the United States go by the first name Naomi, which ranks #44 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Naomi today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Naomi births was 2024 (4,605 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Elaine (128,300).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Naomi. 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 Naomi with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Naomi is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 285 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
129K
~ 1 in 2,667 Americans
Peak year
2024
4,605 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2023 SSA rank
#44
Tracked since 1880
Census
Naomi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 113,168 people with the first name Naomi, which placed it at #498 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
#498
National first-name rank
People counted
113K
113,168 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
37.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Naomi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Naomi is White at 46.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.2%) and Black (17.6%). 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 Naomi 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 Naomi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.1% · 52,159
- Hispanic or Latino22.2% · 25,118
- Black or African American17.6% · 19,889
- Two or more races7.3% · 8,282
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.9% · 6,686
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 1,034
Gender
Gender distribution for Naomi
Out of the 187,137 babies given the name Naomi since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Naomi as a male name
- Ranked #11,818 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1924 (14 births)
Naomi as a female name
- Ranked #44 in 2024
- 4,605 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (4,605 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Naomi appears almost entirely female. Of the 113,178 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Naomi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Naomi from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 36,207 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Naomi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Naomi 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 Naomi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Naomis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Naomi, while Vermont, Wyoming, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,488 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Naomi
The name Naomi is a Hebrew name that originated in ancient biblical times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "noam," which means "pleasantness" or "delightfulness." The name first appeared in the Old Testament of the Bible, where it was given to the mother-in-law of Ruth.
In the Book of Ruth, Naomi was a woman from Bethlehem who, along with her husband and two sons, moved to Moab due to famine. After the death of her husband and sons, Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth. The story of Naomi and Ruth's loyalty and devotion to each other has become a celebrated example of filial piety and faithfulness.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Naomi is found in the Book of Ruth, which is believed to have been written around the 6th century BCE. The name also appears in other ancient Hebrew texts and inscriptions from the same time period.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Naomi. One of the earliest was Naomi, the wife of the biblical prophet Hosea, who lived in the 8th century BCE. Another famous Naomi was the wife of the Jewish scholar and philosopher Moses Maimonides, who lived in the 12th century CE.
In more recent times, Naomi Shemer (1930-2004) was a renowned Israeli poet and songwriter who composed several popular songs that became anthems for the Israeli people. Naomi Watts (born 1968) is an acclaimed Australian actress known for her roles in films such as "Mulholland Drive" and "The Impossible."
Naomi Campbell (born 1970) is a British supermodel and actress who has been a prominent figure in the fashion industry for decades. Naomi Klein (born 1970) is a Canadian author and social activist known for her critiques of corporate globalization and capitalism.
Naomi Osaka (born 1997) is a Japanese professional tennis player who has won several Grand Slam titles and is widely recognized as one of the best players in the world.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Naomi
People
Naomi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Naomi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Naomi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Naomi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 128,523 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Naomi 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 2,667 US residents.
Is Naomi a common name?
We classify Naomi as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 187,137 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Naomi most popular?
The single biggest year for Naomi was 2024, when 4,605 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Naomi is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Naomi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 113,168 people with the name Naomi, or 37.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #498 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 Naomi 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 Naomi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Naomi appears almost entirely female. Of the 113,178 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Naomi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Naomi is White at 46.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.2%) and Black (17.6%). 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 Naomi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Naomi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.1% (52,159 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 Naomi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Naomi a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Naomi 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 Naomi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Naomi 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 Naomi 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 Naomi?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.