Norman
A masculine name of Scandinavian origin meaning "northman" or "norseman".
Name Census estimates that about 101,822 living Americans carry the first name Norman. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Norman today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Norman births was 1928 (5,637 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Norman. 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 Norman with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Norman is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,602 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Norman is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Normans were born before 1969.
- • Compared to the 1930s, recent registration numbers for Norman have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
102K
~ 1 in 3,366 Americans
Peak year
1928
5,637 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,313
Tracked since 1880
Census
Norman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 109,382 people with the first name Norman, which placed it at #518 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
#518
National first-name rank
People counted
109K
109,382 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
36.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Norman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Norman is White at 77.2%. The next largest groups are Black (11.9%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Norman 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 Norman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.2% · 84,416
- Black or African American11.9% · 13,070
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 4,559
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 3,837
- Two or more races2.2% · 2,392
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 1,108
Gender
Gender distribution for Norman
Out of the 254,586 babies given the name Norman since 1880, 99.4% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Norman as a male name
- Ranked #1,313 in 2024
- 148 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1928 (5,590 births)
Norman as a female name
- Ranked #8,975 in 1988
- 8 female births in 1988
- Peak: 1926 (55 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Norman appears almost entirely male. Of the 109,382 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Norman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Norman from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 50,291 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Norman 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 Norman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Normans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Norman, while Nevada, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,782 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Norman
The name Norman has its origins in the Old Norse language, spoken by Scandinavian peoples during the Viking Age. It is derived from the words "norðr" meaning "north" and "maðr" meaning "man." The name was originally a descriptive epithet used to refer to Norsemen or Vikings who had ventured and settled in regions to the north.
In the 9th century, Norman Vikings from present-day Denmark and Norway began to raid and eventually settle in the region of northwestern France known as Normandy. The name Norman came to be associated with these Norse settlers and their descendants, who adopted French culture and language while retaining aspects of their Viking heritage.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Norman can be found in the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, written by the Venerable Bede in the 8th century. Here, Bede refers to "Normannic" pirates who raided the coast of Gaul (modern-day France) in the 6th century.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Norman became widespread in regions influenced by the Normans, particularly in England, where it was introduced after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Some notable historical figures bearing the name Norman include:
1. Norman Leveille (1923-2005), Canadian ice hockey player and coach.
2. Norman Mailer (1923-2007), American novelist, journalist, and playwright.
3. Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), American painter and illustrator known for his depictions of American culture.
4. Norman Schwarzkopf (1934-2012), American military leader who commanded coalition forces during the Gulf War.
5. Norman Borlaug (1914-2009), American agronomist and humanitarian who is credited with saving over a billion lives through his work in developing high-yielding, disease-resistant wheat varieties.
Over time, the name Norman has spread across various cultures and languages, with variations in spelling and pronunciation. However, its roots can be traced back to the Viking Age and the Norman conquest of parts of Europe, a legacy that continues to be reflected in its enduring use as a given name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Norman
People
Norman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Norman 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
Norman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Norman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 101,822 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Norman 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 3,366 US residents.
Is Norman a common name?
We classify Norman as "Common". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 254,586 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Norman most popular?
The single biggest year for Norman was 1928, when 5,637 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Norman is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Norman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 109,382 people with the name Norman, or 36.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #518 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 Norman 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 Norman?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Norman appears almost entirely male. Of the 109,382 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Norman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Norman is White at 77.2%. The next largest groups are Black (11.9%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Norman most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Norman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.2% (84,416 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 Norman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Norman a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Norman 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 Norman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Norman 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 Norman 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 Norman?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Norman on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.