Newman
Hebrew name meaning "new man".
Name Census estimates that about 617 living Americans carry the first name Newman. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Newman today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Newman births was 1921 (67 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Newman. 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.
People living today
617
~ 1 in 555,518 Americans
Peak year
1921
67 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,600
Tracked since 1882
Popularity
Newman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Newman from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 442 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
Newman 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 Newman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Newmans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Alabama, Louisiana, Texas recorded the most babies named Newman, while North Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Newman
The given name Newman is derived from the Old English words "niwe" meaning new and "mann" meaning man. It emerged in the Middle Ages, around the 11th century, as a descriptive name referring to a new or recently arrived man in a community or settlement.
In its earliest forms, the name was spelled as "Neuhmann" or "Niweman" in various regions of England. It later evolved into the more modern spelling of "Newman" by the 13th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholders in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Neuhmann" in several entries, indicating its use among the Anglo-Saxon population at that time.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Newman was predominantly found in England, particularly in rural areas and villages. It was commonly given to children as a way to distinguish them from others with the same surname or to indicate their status as a newcomer to the community.
In the 14th century, a notable bearer of the name was Sir John Newman, a English knight and landowner who fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. He was born around 1320 and died in 1397.
During the Renaissance period, the name gained popularity among the educated classes. One famous bearer was John Henry Newman, an influential English theologian, philosopher, and leader of the Oxford Movement in the Church of England. He was born in 1801 and died in 1890.
In the 19th century, the name became more widespread in the United States due to immigration from England and other parts of Europe. One notable American bearer was John P. Newman, a Union Army officer and educator who served as the first President of the University of Virginia from 1845 to 1849.
Another prominent figure was Eric Newman, an American numismatist and author who was considered one of the leading experts on early American coinage. He was born in 1911 and died in 2020 at the age of 108.
In the world of literature, the name is associated with John Henry Newman, an English writer and poet who was a contemporary of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He was born in 1786 and died in 1837.
People
Newman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Newman 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
Newman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Newman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 617 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Newman 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 555,518 US residents.
Is Newman a common name?
We classify Newman as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,896 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Newman most popular?
The single biggest year for Newman was 1921, when 67 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Newman is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Newman a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Newman 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.
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.