Poe
A masculine name derived from the French word "pois," meaning "peacock."
Name Census estimates that about 103 living Americans carry the first name Poe. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 77.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Poe today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Poe births was 2021 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Poe. 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
103
~ 1 in 3,327,712 Americans
Peak year
2021
17 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,694
Tracked since 2010
Gender
Gender distribution for Poe
Poe is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 104 total registrations, 81 (77.9%) were male and 23 (22.1%) were female.
Poe as a male name
- Ranked #13,694 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (11 births)
Poe as a female name
- Ranked #14,736 in 2023
- 6 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2019 (6 births)
Popularity
Poe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Poe from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 55 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
Poe 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 Poe 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 Poe
The name Poe is believed to have originated from the Celtic word "peau" or "peu", which means "small" or "little". Its roots can be traced back to ancient Gaelic and Brythonic languages spoken in Ireland, Scotland, and parts of England during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Poe can be found in the ancient Irish text, the "Annals of Ulster", which mentions a figure named "Póe mac Fir Bogaidi" in the year 738 AD. This suggests that the name was in use among the Celtic populations of Ireland at least as early as the 8th century.
The name Poe gained prominence in the medieval period, particularly in Scotland and Northern England. One notable figure from this era was Poe of Fawdon, a 12th-century Scottish knight who fought alongside King David I of Scotland during the Battle of the Standard in 1138.
In the 15th century, the name Poe appeared in the English county of Kent, where a family by the name of Poe resided in the village of Penshurst. This family produced a notable figure named Poe Penrhyn (c. 1430-1490), who served as a member of the Privy Council under King Edward IV.
Perhaps the most famous individual with the first name Poe was the American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), renowned for his works of poetry and short stories, including "The Raven" and "The Fall of the House of Usher". His literary contributions significantly influenced the genres of Gothic fiction and detective fiction.
Other notable individuals with the first name Poe throughout history include:
1. Poe Chiu (1934-2018), a Chinese-American engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded the technology company Silicon Graphics.
2. Poe Kilik (born 1954), a Marshallese politician and former President of the Marshall Islands from 2000 to 2008.
3. Poe Dameron (fictional), a prominent character in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, played by actor Oscar Isaac.
4. Poe Dita (1892-1966), an Albanian writer and poet who was a prominent figure in the Rilindja Kombëtare, the Albanian National Renaissance movement.
5. Poe Lluria (1916-1998), a Spanish painter and sculptor known for his surrealist works and association with the avant-garde movement in Barcelona.
People
Poe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Poe 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
Poe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Poe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 103 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Poe 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 3,327,712 US residents.
Is Poe a common name?
We classify Poe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 104 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Poe most popular?
The single biggest year for Poe was 2021, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Poe is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Poe a male name?
Yes, 77.9% of people registered as Poe 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.
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.