Ridge
A masculine name derived from the English word for a long, narrow hill.
Name Census estimates that about 7,242 living Americans carry the first name Ridge. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ridge today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ridge births was 2023 (599 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ridge. 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.
Key insights
- • Ridge is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
7.2K
~ 1 in 47,329 Americans
Peak year
2023
599 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#528
Tracked since 1948
Census
Ridge in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,343 people with the first name Ridge, which placed it at #4,342 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
#4,342
National first-name rank
People counted
4.3K
4,343 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ridge
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ridge is White at 83.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.2%) and Black (4.6%). 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 Ridge 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 Ridge at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.3% · 3,619
- Two or more races5.2% · 227
- Black or African American4.6% · 199
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 169
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 69
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 60
Gender
Gender distribution for Ridge
Out of the 7,337 babies given the name Ridge since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Ridge as a male name
- Ranked #528 in 2024
- 563 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (599 births)
Ridge as a female name
- Ranked #8,424 in 2022
- 13 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2022 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ridge appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,343 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Ridge: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ridge from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 2,671 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
Ridge 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 Ridge during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ridges live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. Texas, Utah, Georgia recorded the most babies named Ridge, while New Mexico, Wyoming, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 130 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ridge
The given name Ridge is an English name derived from the Old English word "hrycg," which means "back" or "ridge." This name is believed to have originated in the early medieval period, around the 5th to 11th centuries, when Anglo-Saxons settled in Britain.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Ridge can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions a landowner named Ridge de Cluny, who held estates in Somerset.
In the 12th century, the name Ridge appeared in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire, which were financial records of the English Exchequer. These rolls mention a man named Ridge de Strigule, who was a knight and landowner.
During the 13th century, Ridge was a relatively common name among English peasants and farmers. One notable bearer of the name was Ridge de Montemor, a soldier who fought in the Crusades and is mentioned in the chronicles of the Third Crusade led by Richard the Lionheart.
In the 16th century, the name Ridge was associated with several notable figures. Ridge Wrey (1497-1557) was an English politician and courtier who served as a Member of Parliament during the reign of Henry VIII. Ridge Hawkins (1555-1622) was an English sea captain and explorer who participated in several voyages to the West Indies and the Americas.
Another famous bearer of the name Ridge was Ridge Blackmore (1725-1806), an English writer and novelist who is best known for his novel "Lorna Doone." This book, published in 1869, is set in the English countryside and features a character named John Ridd, whose nickname is "Ridge."
Throughout the centuries, the name Ridge has been used by various individuals from different walks of life, including artists, musicians, politicians, and military figures. It continues to be a popular name in English-speaking countries, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom.
People
Ridge + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ridge 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
Ridge: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ridge?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,242 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ridge 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 47,329 US residents.
Is Ridge a common name?
We classify Ridge as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,337 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ridge most popular?
The single biggest year for Ridge was 2023, when 599 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ridge is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ridge in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,343 people with the name Ridge, or 1.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,342 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 Ridge 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 Ridge?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ridge appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,343 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Ridge?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ridge is White at 83.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.2%) and Black (4.6%). 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 Ridge most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ridge in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.3% (3,619 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 Ridge in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ridge a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Ridge 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 Ridge still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ridge 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 Ridge 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 are called Ridge?
You can see how many people share the name Ridge on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.