Pelham
From a place name; its meaning refers to a clearing of pelts or hides.
Name Census estimates that about 28 living Americans carry the first name Pelham. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Pelham today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pelham births was 1917 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pelham. 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 Pelham with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Pelham is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Pelhams were born before 1960.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Pelham. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
28
~ 1 in 12,241,226 Americans
Peak year
1917
9 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1973 SSA rank
#5,676
Tracked since 1912
Census
Pelham in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 170 people with the first name Pelham, which placed it at #42,346 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
#42,346
National first-name rank
People counted
170
170 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pelham
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pelham is White at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Black (24.1%) and Hispanic (2.4%). 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 Pelham 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 Pelham at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.4% · 118
- Black or African American24.1% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 4
- Two or more races2.4% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1
Popularity
Pelham: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pelham from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 38 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
Pelham 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 Pelham during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pelhams live
Origin
Meaning and history of Pelham
The name Pelham is an English name derived from the Old English words "pell" meaning "hill" and "ham" meaning "homestead" or "village". It originated as a place name referring to a village situated on a hill, and later became a surname and given name.
The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 11th century, when it was used to refer to a village in Hertfordshire, England. The name Pelham was first recorded as a surname in the 13th century, with the earliest known record being that of William de Pelham, who lived in Norfolk, England in the year 1273.
One of the earliest and most notable historical figures to bear the name Pelham was Sir John Pelham (1384-1429), an English soldier and Member of Parliament during the Hundred Years' War. He fought alongside Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 and was later appointed as a member of the king's council.
Another famous Pelham was Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle (1693-1768), a British statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1757 to 1762. He was a prominent figure during the Seven Years' War and played a significant role in the development of British colonial policy.
In the United States, one of the earliest and most notable individuals to bear the name Pelham was Herbert Pelham (1601-1673), a founding settler of Massachusetts Bay Colony and one of the first residents of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Another notable American Pelham was John Pelham (1838-1863), a Confederate artillery officer during the American Civil War. He was renowned for his bravery and skill in battle, and his actions at the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862 earned him the nickname "The Gallant Pelham".
Other notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Pelham include Sir Edmund Pelham (1531-1606), an English politician and courtier during the reign of Elizabeth I, and Henry Pelham (1696-1754), a British Prime Minister who served from 1743 to 1754.
People
Pelham + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pelham 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
Pelham: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pelham?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 28 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pelham 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 12,241,226 US residents.
Is Pelham a common name?
We classify Pelham as "Very Rare". It ranks above 45.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 123 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pelham most popular?
The single biggest year for Pelham was 1917, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pelham is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pelham in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 170 people with the name Pelham, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #42,346 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 Pelham 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 Pelham?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pelham leans strongly male. 152 people counted with this name were male (91.6%), compared with 14 female bearers (8.4%). 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 Pelham?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pelham is White at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Black (24.1%) and Hispanic (2.4%). 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 Pelham most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Pelham in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.4% (118 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 Pelham in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pelham a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pelham 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 Pelham still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pelham 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 Pelham 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 share the name Pelham?
Want to know how many people share the name Pelham? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.