Navy
A gender-neutral English name referring to the navy or naval forces.
Name Census estimates that about 5,624 living Americans carry the first name Navy. It sits at #337 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Navy today is around 6 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Navy births was 2024 (1,026 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Navy. 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
- • Navy is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 6 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
5.6K
~ 1 in 60,945 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,026 babies that year
Average age
6
years old
2024 SSA rank
#337
Tracked since 1985
Gender
Gender distribution for Navy
Navy leans heavily female at 87.7% of total registrations, but 694 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Navy as a male name
- Ranked #1,714 in 2024
- 97 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (108 births)
Navy as a female name
- Ranked #337 in 2024
- 929 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (929 births)
Popularity
Navy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Navy from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 3,978 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
Navy 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 Navy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Navys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. Utah, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Navy, while New Hampshire, Montana, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 107 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Navy
The name Navy is an English word name that emerged in the late 19th century. It is derived from the English word "navy," which refers to a nation's maritime military force. The name Navy likely originated as a nickname or descriptive name given to individuals who served in or had a connection to a nation's naval forces.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Navy can be found in the United States Census records from the late 1800s. However, it remained an uncommon name until the 20th century. Some of the earliest individuals known to have borne the name Navy include Navy Seymour, an American baseball player who played in the early 1900s, and Navy Horace Pender, an American artist born in 1885.
As the name grew in popularity, it began to appear in various literary works and historical records. One notable example is Navy Joe Wallin, an American pilot and World War II veteran who served in the United States Navy during the war. He was born in 1923 and passed away in 2017.
Another individual with the name Navy was Navy Raymond Banister, an American athlete and Olympian who competed in the high jump event. He was born in 1935 and won a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
In more recent times, the name Navy has been associated with Navy Marlissa Navarro, an American singer and songwriter who rose to fame in the late 2000s. She was born in 1988 and has released several albums and singles.
While the name Navy may have originated as a descriptive or occupational name, it has since evolved into a unique and distinctive given name. Its connection to maritime forces and history has contributed to its enduring appeal and use throughout the world.
People
Navy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Navy 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
Navy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Navy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,624 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Navy 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 60,945 US residents.
Is Navy a common name?
We classify Navy as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,662 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Navy most popular?
The single biggest year for Navy was 2024, when 1,026 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Navy is about 6 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Navy a female name?
Yes, 87.7% of people registered as Navy 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.
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.