Poppy
A feminine name referencing the bright red poppy flower.
Name Census estimates that about 8,304 living Americans carry the first name Poppy. It sits at #338 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Poppy today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Poppy births was 2023 (1,081 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Poppy. 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 Poppy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Poppy is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
8.3K
~ 1 in 41,276 Americans
Peak year
2023
1,081 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2023 SSA rank
#338
Tracked since 1919
Census
Poppy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,388 people with the first name Poppy, which placed it at #4,318 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
#4,318
National first-name rank
People counted
4.4K
4,388 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Poppy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Poppy is White at 80.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.9%) and Two or More Races (6.5%). 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 Poppy 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 Poppy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.7% · 3,540
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 303
- Two or more races6.5% · 285
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 122
- Black or African American2.4% · 107
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 31
Gender
Gender distribution for Poppy
Out of the 8,482 babies given the name Poppy since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Poppy as a male name
- Ranked #13,657 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2023 (5 births)
Poppy as a female name
- Ranked #338 in 2024
- 928 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (1,076 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Poppy leans strongly female. 4,268 people counted with this name were female (97.4%), compared with 112 male bearers (2.6%).
Popularity
Poppy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Poppy from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 4,431 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
Poppy 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 Poppy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Poppys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Poppy, while Rhode Island, Alaska, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 157 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Poppy
The name Poppy is derived from the flower of the same name, which is believed to have originated from the Latin word "papaver". The poppy flower has been associated with various cultures and civilizations throughout history, and its symbolism has played a significant role in the popularity of the name.
In ancient Greece, the poppy was closely linked to Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and fertility. The flower was believed to represent sleep, peace, and resurrection, and was often used in rituals and ceremonies. It is possible that the name Poppy was first used during this time, although there are no definitive records.
During the Middle Ages, the poppy became a symbol of remembrance and was often associated with the military. The red poppy, in particular, gained significance after World War I, when it was adopted as a symbol to commemorate the fallen soldiers. This connection to the war may have contributed to the name's popularity in the early 20th century.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Poppy dates back to the 16th century. Poppy Gwynne (c. 1563 - c. 1634) was an English herbalist and midwife who gained recognition for her work in the field of medicine. Another notable figure was Poppy Cannon (1888 - 1973), an American home economist and author who played a significant role in popularizing the use of modern kitchen appliances.
In literature, the name Poppy has been used for various characters, including Poppy Upover in Charles Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend" (1864-1865) and Poppy Moore in P.G. Wodehouse's "The Inimitable Jeeves" (1923). Additionally, the character of Poppy in the children's book series "Trolls" has further contributed to the name's popularity in recent times.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Poppy. Poppy Shakespeare (1957 - present) is a British actress known for her roles in films like "Braveheart" and "The Princess Bride". Poppy King (1971 - present) is an Australian entrepreneur and the founder of the cosmetics brand "Poppy Cosmetics". Poppy Northcutt (1924 - 2010) was an American civil rights activist and the first woman to work as an engineer for NASA.
These are just a few examples of the historical and cultural significance of the name Poppy, which has been embraced across various regions and time periods, often drawing inspiration from the symbolism and beauty of the poppy flower itself.
People
Poppy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Poppy 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
Poppy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Poppy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,304 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Poppy 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 41,276 US residents.
Is Poppy a common name?
We classify Poppy as "Rare". It ranks above 97.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,482 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Poppy most popular?
The single biggest year for Poppy was 2023, when 1,081 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Poppy is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Poppy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,388 people with the name Poppy, or 1.45 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,318 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 Poppy 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 Poppy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Poppy leans strongly female. 4,268 people counted with this name were female (97.4%), compared with 112 male bearers (2.6%). 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 Poppy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Poppy is White at 80.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.9%) and Two or More Races (6.5%). 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 Poppy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Poppy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.7% (3,540 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 Poppy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Poppy a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Poppy in the SSA data are female. 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 Poppy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Poppy 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 Poppy 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 Poppy?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.