Sequoia
A feminine name derived from the sequoia tree, representing strength and longevity.
Name Census estimates that about 4,214 living Americans carry the first name Sequoia. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Sequoia today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sequoia births was 2002 (193 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sequoia. 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 Sequoia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.2K
~ 1 in 81,337 Americans
Peak year
2002
193 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,450
Tracked since 1958
Census
Sequoia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,255 people with the first name Sequoia, which placed it at #5,314 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
#5,314
National first-name rank
People counted
3.3K
3,255 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
39.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sequoia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sequoia is Black at 39.0%. The next largest groups are White (33.7%) and Two or More Races (11.5%). 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 Sequoia 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 Sequoia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American39.0% · 1,268
- White33.7% · 1,097
- Two or more races11.5% · 373
- Hispanic or Latino9.6% · 314
- American Indian and Alaska Native5.3% · 172
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 31
Gender
Gender distribution for Sequoia
Sequoia leans heavily female at 89.0% of total registrations, but 476 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Sequoia as a male name
- Ranked #8,196 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (23 births)
Sequoia as a female name
- Ranked #2,450 in 2024
- 74 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2002 (181 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sequoia leans strongly female. 2,865 people counted with this name were female (88.2%), compared with 385 male bearers (11.8%).
Popularity
Sequoia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sequoia from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,311 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Sequoia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sequoia 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 Sequoia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sequoias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. California, Georgia, Oregon recorded the most babies named Sequoia, while Nevada, Louisiana, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 74 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sequoia
The name Sequoia derives from the Cherokee language and refers to the towering redwood trees found in California. The name was first coined in the early 19th century by the Austrian botanist Stephan Endlicher, who named the giant tree species after the Cherokee leader Sequoyah.
Sequoyah, who lived from around 1770 to 1843, was a silversmith and later the creator of the Cherokee syllabary, a writing system that allowed the Cherokee language to be written down for the first time. His name is believed to have meant "pig's foot" or "he who makes it red" in the Cherokee language.
The name Sequoia gained popularity as a given name in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the United States, where it was often used as a way to honor the majestic redwood trees and the Cherokee heritage. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name was Sequoia Semmes, born in 1882, the daughter of Confederate general Raphael Semmes.
Throughout history, the name Sequoia has been borne by several notable individuals, including Sequoia Gonzalez, a Chicana activist and writer who co-founded the feminist magazine Hijas de Cuauhtémoc in the 1970s. Sequoia German, born in 1939, was a member of the American Indian Movement and participated in the occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969-1971.
Another notable bearer of the name was Sequoia Pickett, born in 1972, a Native American actress and activist known for her roles in films like "Smoke Signals" and "The World's Fastest Indian." Sequoia Houston, born in 1991, is a contemporary Native American artist and fashion designer whose work celebrates her Cherokee heritage.
One of the most famous individuals named Sequoia was Sequoia Samers, born in 1914, a Cherokee artist and educator who played a crucial role in preserving and promoting Cherokee culture and art. Her intricate basket weaving and pottery works are now part of the permanent collections of various museums.
People
Sequoia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sequoia 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
Sequoia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sequoia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,214 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sequoia 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 81,337 US residents.
Is Sequoia a common name?
We classify Sequoia as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,315 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sequoia most popular?
The single biggest year for Sequoia was 2002, when 193 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sequoia is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sequoia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,255 people with the name Sequoia, or 1.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,314 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 Sequoia 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 Sequoia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sequoia leans strongly female. 2,865 people counted with this name were female (88.2%), compared with 385 male bearers (11.8%). 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 Sequoia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sequoia is Black at 39.0%. The next largest groups are White (33.7%) and Two or More Races (11.5%). 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 Sequoia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Sequoia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.0% (1,268 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 Sequoia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sequoia a female name?
Yes, 89.0% of people registered as Sequoia 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 Sequoia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sequoia 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 Sequoia 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 Sequoia?
Find out how many people have the name Sequoia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.