Pastor
A Christian spiritual leader and minister of the church.
Name Census estimates that about 128 living Americans carry the first name Pastor. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Pastor today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pastor births was 1981 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pastor. 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
128
~ 1 in 2,677,768 Americans
Peak year
1981
8 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2008 SSA rank
#14,084
Tracked since 1929
Census
Pastor in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,769 people with the first name Pastor, which placed it at #8,238 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
#8,238
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,769 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
77.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pastor
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pastor is Hispanic at 77.2%. The next largest groups are White (9.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.6%). 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 Pastor 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 Pastor at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino77.2% · 1,365
- White9.4% · 166
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.6% · 135
- Black or African American5.5% · 97
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 4
- Two or more races0.1% · 2
Popularity
Pastor: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pastor from the 1920s through to the 2000s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 53 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Pastor remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pastor 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 Pastor during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pastors live
Origin
Meaning and history of Pastor
The name Pastor is derived from the Latin word "pastor" which means "shepherd" or "herdsman". It originated as a term used to refer to those who tended to flocks of sheep or other livestock. The name dates back to ancient Roman times and was commonly used as a surname or occupational title.
Over time, the name Pastor took on a religious connotation as well. In Christianity, a pastor is a minister or priest who leads a congregation and provides spiritual guidance, much like a shepherd tends to their flock. The name is mentioned in several religious texts, including the Bible, where it is used to refer to spiritual leaders and teachers.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Pastor being used as a given name dates back to the 4th century AD. Pastor was the name of a Christian martyr who was executed during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian for refusing to renounce his faith.
In the Middle Ages, the name Pastor became more widely used across Europe, particularly in regions with strong Christian traditions. Several notable figures from this period bore the name, including Pastor Stridoniensis, a 5th-century Christian scholar and theologian, and Pastor of Arles, a 6th-century bishop and saint.
During the Renaissance and Reformation periods, the name Pastor continued to be popular among religious leaders and scholars. One notable figure was Pastor Melanchthon (1497-1560), a German reformer and collaborator of Martin Luther.
In later centuries, the name Pastor remained prevalent in Christian communities, particularly among Protestant denominations where pastors play a significant role in leading congregations. Some notable individuals with the name Pastor include:
1. Pastor Aeternus (1586-1651), a German Lutheran theologian and author.
2. Pastor Joseph Alleine (1633-1668), an English Puritan minister and author.
3. Pastor John Newton (1725-1807), an English Anglican clergyman and former slave trader, best known for writing the hymn "Amazing Grace".
4. Pastor Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899), an American evangelist and publisher who founded the Moody Bible Institute.
5. Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984), a prominent German Protestant pastor and outspoken critic of Adolf Hitler's regime.
While the name Pastor has historically been associated with Christian religious leaders, it has also been used as a given name in secular contexts, particularly in regions with strong Latin cultural influences.
People
Pastor + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pastor 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
Pastor: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pastor?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 128 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pastor 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 2,677,768 US residents.
Is Pastor a common name?
We classify Pastor as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 146 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pastor most popular?
The single biggest year for Pastor was 1981, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pastor is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pastor in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,769 people with the name Pastor, or 0.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,238 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 Pastor 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 Pastor?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pastor leans strongly male. 1,728 people counted with this name were male (97.7%), compared with 40 female bearers (2.3%). 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 Pastor?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pastor is Hispanic at 77.2%. The next largest groups are White (9.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.6%). 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 Pastor most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Pastor in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.2% (1,365 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 Pastor in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pastor a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pastor 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 Pastor still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pastor 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 Pastor 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 Pastor as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Pastor, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.