Scout
A unisex given name referring to a scout or explorer.
Name Census estimates that about 6,768 living Americans carry the first name Scout. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 71.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Scout today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Scout births was 2022 (618 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Scout. 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 Scout with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Scout is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
6.8K
~ 1 in 50,643 Americans
Peak year
2022
618 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#927
Tracked since 1992
Census
Scout in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,622 people with the first name Scout, which placed it at #4,154 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
#4,154
National first-name rank
People counted
4.6K
4,622 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Scout
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Scout is White at 82.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.4%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Scout 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 Scout at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.8% · 3,828
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 341
- Two or more races6.4% · 296
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 61
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 56
- Black or African American0.9% · 40
Gender
Gender distribution for Scout
Scout is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 6,831 total registrations, 1,960 (28.7%) were male and 4,871 (71.3%) were female.
Scout as a male name
- Ranked #1,486 in 2024
- 122 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (195 births)
Scout as a female name
- Ranked #927 in 2024
- 285 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (423 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Scout on both sides of the split. Of the 4,622 people counted with this name, 1,298 were male (28.1%) and 3,324 were female (71.9%).
Popularity
Scout: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Scout from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,791 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
Scout 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 Scout during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Scouts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. Texas, California, Utah recorded the most babies named Scout, while Vermont, New Jersey, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 108 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Scout
The name Scout originated as an English word derived from the Old French word "escouter", meaning "to listen" or "to look out". It was first used as a name in the early 20th century, likely inspired by the scouting movement and the idea of exploration and adventure.
Scout was initially more common as a nickname or a middle name, but gradually gained popularity as a gender-neutral first name in the United States and other English-speaking countries. One of the earliest recorded uses of Scout as a first name was in the 1935 novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, where the character Scout Finch was named after her real-life namesake, the writer's childhood friend.
While the name Scout does not have any direct historical or religious references, it does evoke a sense of curiosity, bravery, and a spirit of discovery. Some notable individuals named Scout throughout history include Scout Finch, the fictional character from "To Kill a Mockingbird"; Scout Bingo, an American actress and model born in 1990; Scout Tafoya, an American film critic and writer born in 1985; Scout Willis, the daughter of actors Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, born in 1991; and Scout Masterson, an American singer and songwriter born in 1996.
While the name Scout has been more widely adopted in recent decades, its origins can be traced back to the early 20th century and the scouting movement, which emphasized values of exploration, adventure, and being observant. The name's unique and gender-neutral nature has contributed to its appeal and enduring popularity.
People
Scout + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Scout 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
Scout: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Scout?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,768 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Scout 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 50,643 US residents.
Is Scout a common name?
We classify Scout as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,831 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Scout most popular?
The single biggest year for Scout was 2022, when 618 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Scout is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Scout in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,622 people with the name Scout, or 1.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,154 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 Scout 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 Scout?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Scout on both sides of the split. Of the 4,622 people counted with this name, 1,298 were male (28.1%) and 3,324 were female (71.9%). 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 Scout?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Scout is White at 82.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.4%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Scout most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Scout in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.8% (3,828 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 Scout in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Scout a female name?
Yes, 71.3% of people registered as Scout 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 Scout still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Scout 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 Scout 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 Scout?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.