Radford
Red ford, from Old English meaning a place to cross a red-colored river.
Name Census estimates that about 616 living Americans carry the first name Radford. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Radford today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Radford births was 1935 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Radford. 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
616
~ 1 in 556,419 Americans
Peak year
1935
26 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,915
Tracked since 1885
Census
Radford in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 613 people with the first name Radford, which placed it at #17,806 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
#17,806
National first-name rank
People counted
613
613 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Radford
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Radford is White at 61.2%. The next largest groups are Black (18.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.6%). 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 Radford 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 Radford at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.2% · 375
- Black or African American18.8% · 115
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.6% · 59
- Two or more races4.6% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 14
Popularity
Radford: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Radford from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 182 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
Radford 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 Radford during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Radfords live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Alabama, Hawaii, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Radford, while Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Radford
The given name Radford is of English origin, derived from the Old English words "rad" (meaning "red") and "ford" (meaning "a shallow place where a river can be crossed"). It likely originated as a surname referring to someone who lived near a red or reddish-colored ford or river crossing.
In the early 12th century, the name appeared in various spellings, such as Radford, Redeford, and Redforde, in historical records from regions like Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire in England. The name's earliest documented use as a given name dates back to the late 13th century.
Radford does not appear to have any significant historical references in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or other notable historical records beyond its English origins and usage as a surname.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the given name Radford was Radford Ingram (c. 1480 - c. 1550), an English landowner and Member of Parliament from Nottinghamshire during the reign of Henry VIII.
In the 17th century, Radford Sykes (1615 - 1678) was a prominent English landowner and Member of Parliament who represented Yorkshire in the English Parliament.
During the 18th century, Radford Bayly (1736 - 1810) was a British Army officer who served in the American Revolutionary War and later became a Member of Parliament in Ireland.
In the 19th century, Radford Smyth (1810 - 1889) was an English architect and surveyor who designed several notable buildings in London and other parts of England.
Another notable figure was Radford Potter (1857 - 1921), an American businessman and politician who served as the Mayor of Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1908 to 1910.
People
Radford + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Radford as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Radford: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Radford?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 616 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Radford 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 556,419 US residents.
Is Radford a common name?
We classify Radford as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,198 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Radford most popular?
The single biggest year for Radford was 1935, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Radford is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Radford in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 613 people with the name Radford, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,806 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 Radford 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 Radford?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Radford leans strongly male. 612 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 7 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Radford?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Radford is White at 61.2%. The next largest groups are Black (18.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.6%). 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 Radford most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Radford in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.2% (375 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 Radford in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Radford a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Radford 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 Radford still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Radford 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 Radford 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 common is the name Radford?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.