Renwick
A Scottish surname derived from a place name meaning "rent pasture".
Name Census estimates that about 462 living Americans carry the first name Renwick. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Renwick today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Renwick births was 1959 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Renwick. 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
462
~ 1 in 741,893 Americans
Peak year
1959
27 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2021 SSA rank
#13,651
Tracked since 1917
Census
Renwick in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 478 people with the first name Renwick, which placed it at #21,306 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
#21,306
National first-name rank
People counted
478
478 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
67.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Renwick
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renwick is Black at 67.8%. The next largest groups are White (20.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1%). 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 Renwick 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 Renwick at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American67.8% · 324
- White20.3% · 97
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.1% · 29
- Two or more races2.7% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 3
Popularity
Renwick: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Renwick from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 191 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Renwick 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 Renwick during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Renwicks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Renwick, while Louisiana, Georgia, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Renwick
The given name Renwick originates from the Old English language, stemming from the combination of the words "ren," meaning a stream or brook, and "wic," referring to a dwelling or settlement. This name first emerged in Anglo-Saxon England during the 7th to 11th centuries.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Renwick can be traced back to the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of lands and properties commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. Several villages and hamlets with names containing the "ren" and "wic" elements were documented in this record, suggesting the name's prevalence among the local population.
One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name Renwick was Sir John Renwick, a Scottish minister and covenanter who lived from 1662 to 1688. He played a prominent role in the Killing Times, a period of intense persecution of Presbyterians in Scotland, and was eventually executed for his beliefs.
In the literary realm, the name Renwick gained recognition through the works of Sir Walter Scott, the renowned Scottish novelist and poet. In his novel "Old Mortality," published in 1816, one of the characters is named Renwick, likely a nod to the historical figure mentioned earlier.
Another notable bearer of the name was James Renwick Jr., an American engineer and educator who lived from 1818 to 1895. He served as the first president of Renwick College, a now-defunct institution in Kentucky, and made significant contributions to the field of engineering education.
During the 19th century, Renwick was also the name of a prominent family in New York City. James Renwick Jr., an architect born in 1818, designed several iconic buildings, including St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Smithsonian Institution Building, known as the Renwick Gallery.
In more recent times, Renwick Curry, born in 1954, is a notable American basketball player who played in the NBA for several teams, including the Detroit Pistons and the Chicago Bulls, during the 1970s and 1980s.
While the name Renwick may not be as common today as it once was, its rich history and linguistic roots in Old English provide a fascinating glimpse into the naming traditions of ancient Anglo-Saxon societies.
People
Renwick + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Renwick 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
Renwick: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Renwick?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 462 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Renwick 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 741,893 US residents.
Is Renwick a common name?
We classify Renwick as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 544 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Renwick most popular?
The single biggest year for Renwick was 1959, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Renwick is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Renwick in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 478 people with the name Renwick, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,306 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 Renwick 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 Renwick?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Renwick leans strongly male. 472 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 8 female bearers (1.7%). 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 Renwick?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renwick is Black at 67.8%. The next largest groups are White (20.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1%). 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 Renwick most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Renwick in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.8% (324 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 Renwick in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Renwick a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Renwick 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 Renwick still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Renwick 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 Renwick 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 Renwick?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Renwick on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.