Pike
A given masculine name meaning "pointed hill" or "marsh plant".
Name Census estimates that about 222 living Americans carry the first name Pike. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Pike today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pike births was 2014 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pike. 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
222
~ 1 in 1,543,938 Americans
Peak year
2014
17 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,143
Tracked since 1975
Census
Pike in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 275 people with the first name Pike, which placed it at #31,234 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
#31,234
National first-name rank
People counted
275
275 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pike
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pike is White at 83.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.8%) and Hispanic (4.7%). 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 Pike 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 Pike at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.3% · 229
- Two or more races5.8% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 11
- Black or African American1.5% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2
Popularity
Pike: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pike from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 118 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Pike remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pike 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 Pike during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pike
The given name Pike likely originated from the Old English word "pic" or "pic-ian," which referred to a sharp point or ridge, such as a hill or mountain peak. It may have been used as a nickname or descriptive name for someone who lived near a prominent peak or ridgeline.
In the Middle Ages, Pike was sometimes used as a descriptive surname derived from the Old French word "pique," meaning a spear or lance. This suggests the name may have also been associated with weapons or military service during this period.
One of the earliest recorded uses of Pike as a given name dates back to the 13th century. A man named Pike de Ravenesholm was mentioned in historical records from Yorkshire, England in 1275.
During the Renaissance, the name Pike saw some popularity among the English gentry and nobility. Sir Walter Pike (1592-1671) was an English politician who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1649. Another notable figure was Zebulon Pike (1779-1813), an American explorer and army officer known for his expeditions into the western United States.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the name Pike continued to be used, though mostly within English-speaking countries. Some individuals of note include Albert Pike (1809-1891), an American author and prominent figure in Freemasonry, and James Pike (1913-1969), an Episcopal bishop and civil rights activist.
Other historically significant people named Pike include Henry Pike (1785-1864), an English composer and musician, and Adolphus Pike (1846-1917), an English cricketer who played for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.
Throughout its history, the name Pike has maintained a connection to its origins, evoking images of peaks, points, and sharp objects. While not an extremely common name, it has been used consistently across various time periods and cultural contexts, particularly within the English-speaking world.
People
Pike + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pike 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
Pike: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pike?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 222 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pike 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 1,543,938 US residents.
Is Pike a common name?
We classify Pike as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 224 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pike most popular?
The single biggest year for Pike was 2014, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pike is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pike in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 275 people with the name Pike, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,234 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 Pike 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 Pike?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pike leans strongly male. 271 people counted with this name were male (94.1%), compared with 17 female bearers (5.9%). 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 Pike?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pike is White at 83.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.8%) and Hispanic (4.7%). 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 Pike most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Pike in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.3% (229 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 Pike in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pike a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pike 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 Pike still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pike 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 Pike 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 Pike as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Pike on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.