Palmer
A masculine name of English origin meaning "palm tree bearer".
Name Census estimates that about 12,986 living Americans carry the first name Palmer. It sits at #258 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 52.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Palmer today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Palmer births was 2024 (1,423 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Palmer. 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 Palmer with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Palmer started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Palmer sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Palmer is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 26,394 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,423 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#258
Tracked since 1880
Census
Palmer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,877 people with the first name Palmer, which placed it at #3,167 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
#3,167
National first-name rank
People counted
6.9K
6,877 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Palmer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Palmer is White at 85.4%. The next largest groups are Black (6.0%) and Hispanic (3.6%). 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 Palmer 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 Palmer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.4% · 5,876
- Black or African American6.0% · 415
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 246
- Two or more races3.5% · 241
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 62
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 37
Gender
Gender distribution for Palmer
Palmer is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 17,090 total registrations, 9,035 (52.9%) were male and 8,055 (47.1%) were female.
Palmer as a male name
- Ranked #1,076 in 2024
- 202 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (240 births)
Palmer as a female name
- Ranked #258 in 2024
- 1,221 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,221 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Palmer on both sides of the split. Of the 6,871 people counted with this name, 4,102 were male (59.7%) and 2,769 were female (40.3%).
Popularity
Palmer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Palmer from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 6,339 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
Palmer 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 Palmer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Palmers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. Texas, Florida, Georgia recorded the most babies named Palmer, while Alaska, Delaware, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 253 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Palmer
The name Palmer is an English surname derived from the Latin word "palma," meaning "palm tree." It was originally an occupational surname given to those who carried palm fronds during religious processions or made products from palm leaves. The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 13th century in England.
In the Christian tradition, palm fronds symbolize victory and triumph, and they were often used in religious ceremonies and festivals. The name Palmer may have been first given to pilgrims who returned from the Holy Land carrying palm branches as a symbol of their journey. These pilgrims were known as "palmers" or "palmer-bearers."
During the Middle Ages, the name Palmer was associated with the Crusades and the pilgrimages to the Holy Land. In the 12th century, a famous English knight named Sir William Palmer joined the Third Crusade led by King Richard I. Sir William was celebrated for his bravery and heroism during the siege of Acre in 1191.
Another notable figure with the name Palmer was John Palmer, an English actor and playwright who lived during the Elizabethan era (1560-1610). He was a member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the same theatrical company that Shakespeare belonged to, and he was known for his roles in plays by Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson.
In the 18th century, John Palmer (1742-1818) was a renowned English postal reformer and surveyor who introduced several innovations to the British postal system, including the use of mail coaches and the establishment of a uniform postal rate.
In the field of botany, John Palmer (1785-1846) was an English naturalist and explorer who traveled extensively in the Pacific region and collected numerous plant specimens, many of which were new to science.
During the American Civil War, John McCauley Palmer (1817-1900) was a prominent Union Army general who commanded the 14th Corps of the Army of the Cumberland and played a crucial role in several major battles, including the Battle of Chickamauga and the Atlanta Campaign.
While the name Palmer has its roots in the Christian tradition and was associated with religious pilgrims, it has since become a popular name across various cultures and regions, reflecting its versatility and enduring appeal.
People
Palmer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Palmer 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
Palmer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Palmer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,986 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Palmer 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 26,394 US residents.
Is Palmer a common name?
We classify Palmer as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17,090 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Palmer most popular?
The single biggest year for Palmer was 2024, when 1,423 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Palmer is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Palmer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,877 people with the name Palmer, or 2.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,167 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 Palmer 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 Palmer?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Palmer on both sides of the split. Of the 6,871 people counted with this name, 4,102 were male (59.7%) and 2,769 were female (40.3%). 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 Palmer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Palmer is White at 85.4%. The next largest groups are Black (6.0%) and Hispanic (3.6%). 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 Palmer most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Palmer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.4% (5,876 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 Palmer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Palmer a male name?
Yes, 52.9% of people registered as Palmer 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 Palmer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Palmer 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 Palmer 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 Palmer?
You can see how many people have the name Palmer on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.