Sanchez
A Spanish surname derived from the given name Sancho.
Name Census estimates that about 960 living Americans carry the first name Sanchez. It is a predominantly male name (98.3% of registrations). The average person named Sanchez today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sanchez births was 1989 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sanchez. 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 Sanchez with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
960
~ 1 in 357,036 Americans
Peak year
1989
41 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,016
Tracked since 1960
Census
Sanchez in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,449 people with the first name Sanchez, which placed it at #9,545 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
#9,545
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,449 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
47.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sanchez
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sanchez is Black at 47.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (44.7%) and White (4.0%). 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 Sanchez 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 Sanchez at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American47.1% · 682
- Hispanic or Latino44.7% · 647
- White4.0% · 58
- Two or more races2.1% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 13
Gender
Gender distribution for Sanchez
Sanchez leans heavily male at 98.3% of total registrations, but 17 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Sanchez as a male name
- Ranked #12,060 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (39 births)
Sanchez as a female name
- Ranked #12,016 in 1989
- 6 female births in 1989
- Peak: 1980 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sanchez leans strongly male. 1,168 people counted with this name were male (81.0%), compared with 274 female bearers (19.0%).
Popularity
Sanchez: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sanchez from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 269 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sanchez 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 Sanchez during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sanchez' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Georgia, North Carolina, Missouri recorded the most babies named Sanchez, while Missouri, North Carolina, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 68 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sanchez
The name Sanchez has its origins in the Spanish language. It is derived from the Latin name Sanctius, which means "holy" or "saintly." The name first appeared in Spain during the Middle Ages, around the 11th century.
In the early days, the name Sanchez was primarily used as a surname, with its earliest recorded use as a first name dating back to the 13th century. It is believed to have gained popularity as a first name among Spanish-speaking communities due to its association with religious devotion and piety.
One of the earliest documented individuals with the first name Sanchez was Sanchez de Aragón, a Spanish nobleman who lived in the 13th century. He was a prominent figure during the reign of King James I of Aragon and played a significant role in the conquest of Valencia.
Another notable figure in history bearing the name Sanchez was Sanchez Ramirez de Arellano, a Spanish explorer and conquistador from the 16th century. He was one of the first Europeans to explore and settle in what is now modern-day Mexico, establishing the city of Tampico in 1554.
In the realm of literature, Sanchez de las Brozas, also known as "El Brocense," was a renowned Spanish humanist, scholar, and grammarian from the 16th century. He made significant contributions to the study of classical languages and wrote extensively on Latin and Greek grammar.
Moving forward in time, Sanchez Cerquero was a Spanish painter and printmaker from the 17th century. He is best known for his religious paintings and engravings, many of which can be found in churches and museums throughout Spain.
Another prominent figure with the first name Sanchez was Sanchez Mejías, a Spanish bullfighter who lived in the early 20th century. He gained fame for his skills in the bullfighting arena and was immortalized in Federico García Lorca's poem "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter."
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the first name Sanchez, highlighting its enduring presence and significance within Spanish-speaking cultures and beyond.
People
Sanchez + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sanchez as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sanchez: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sanchez?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 960 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sanchez 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 357,036 US residents.
Is Sanchez a common name?
We classify Sanchez as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 993 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sanchez most popular?
The single biggest year for Sanchez was 1989, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sanchez is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sanchez in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,449 people with the name Sanchez, or 0.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,545 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 Sanchez 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 Sanchez?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sanchez leans strongly male. 1,168 people counted with this name were male (81.0%), compared with 274 female bearers (19.0%). 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 Sanchez?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sanchez is Black at 47.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (44.7%) and White (4.0%). 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 Sanchez most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Sanchez in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.1% (682 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 Sanchez in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sanchez a male name?
Yes, 98.3% of people registered as Sanchez 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 Sanchez still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sanchez 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 Sanchez 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 named Sanchez?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.