Padraig
Derived from the Latin name Patricius, meaning "of noble descent or patrician birth".
Name Census estimates that about 785 living Americans carry the first name Padraig. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Padraig today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Padraig births was 2009 (57 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Padraig. 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 Padraig with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
785
~ 1 in 436,630 Americans
Peak year
2009
57 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,585
Tracked since 1982
Census
Padraig in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 895 people with the first name Padraig, which placed it at #13,469 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
#13,469
National first-name rank
People counted
895
895 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Padraig
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Padraig is White at 90.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.9%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Padraig 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 Padraig at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.9% · 814
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 35
- Two or more races3.9% · 35
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 4
- Black or African American0.2% · 2
Popularity
Padraig: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Padraig from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 342 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Padraig 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 Padraig during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Padraigs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Padraig, while Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Padraig
The given name Padraig has its origins in the Irish language and Gaelic culture. It is the Irish version of the Latin name Patricius, which means "of noble birth" or "from a patrician family". The name can be traced back to the 5th century and is associated with Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.
Padraig is derived from the Old Irish word "Patricc", which was the name given to Saint Patrick, who was born in Britain around 385 AD. He was captured and brought to Ireland as a slave at the age of 16, but later escaped and returned to spread Christianity throughout the island. Saint Patrick is credited with converting many of the pagan Irish people to Christianity and is celebrated annually on March 17th, which is known as St. Patrick's Day.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Padraig can be found in the Book of Armagh, a 9th-century Irish manuscript that contains writings about Saint Patrick's life and mission. The name was also mentioned in various Irish annals and historical records throughout the Middle Ages.
Padraig remained a popular name among the Irish people throughout the centuries, and several notable figures in Irish history bore this name. One of the most famous was Padraig Pearse (1879-1916), a teacher, poet, and one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916, which aimed to end British rule in Ireland. Another notable Padraig was Padraig O'Conaire (1882-1928), an Irish writer and journalist who was a prominent figure in the Irish literary revival.
Other notable individuals with the name Padraig include Padraig Harrington (born 1971), an Irish professional golfer who has won three major championships; Padraig MacMathuna (born 1949), an Irish language activist and writer; and Padraig Aalen (1936-2012), an Irish prelate who served as the Bishop of Achonry from 1985 to 2008.
While the name Padraig has its roots in Irish culture, it has also been adopted by people of various backgrounds and nationalities around the world, particularly in countries with strong Irish communities or cultural influences.
People
Padraig + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Padraig as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Padraig: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Padraig?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 785 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Padraig 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 436,630 US residents.
Is Padraig a common name?
We classify Padraig as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 795 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Padraig most popular?
The single biggest year for Padraig was 2009, when 57 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Padraig is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Padraig in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 895 people with the name Padraig, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,469 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 Padraig 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 Padraig?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Padraig appears almost entirely male. Of the 893 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Padraig?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Padraig is White at 90.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.9%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Padraig most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Padraig in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.9% (814 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 Padraig in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Padraig a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Padraig 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 Padraig still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Padraig 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 Padraig 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 are called Padraig?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.