Sheffield
A topographic surname referring to a river in Northern England.
Name Census estimates that about 32 living Americans carry the first name Sheffield. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sheffield today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sheffield births was 1919 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sheffield. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Sheffield. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
32
~ 1 in 10,711,073 Americans
Peak year
1919
10 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2018 SSA rank
#11,915
Tracked since 1914
Census
Sheffield in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 151 people with the first name Sheffield, which placed it at #45,179 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
#45,179
National first-name rank
People counted
151
151 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sheffield
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sheffield is White at 55.0%. The next largest groups are Black (36.4%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Sheffield 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 Sheffield at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.0% · 83
- Black or African American36.4% · 55
- Two or more races6.0% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 4
Popularity
Sheffield: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sheffield from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 20 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Sheffield remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sheffield 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 Sheffield during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sheffield
The name Sheffield is a relatively modern English name that originated as a place name referring to the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. The name Sheffield derives from the Old English words "sceað" meaning "shed" or "sheepcote" and "feld" meaning "field" or "open pasture land". Together, the words suggest that the area was once used for sheltering sheep.
Sheffield first appeared as a place name in the early 12th century, recorded in the Domesday Book as "Scafeld". Over time, the spelling evolved to its modern form. The name gained prominence as Sheffield grew into an important center for metalworking and cutlery production during the Industrial Revolution.
While the name Sheffield is not found in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been used as a given name since the 19th century, likely inspired by the city's growing importance and reputation. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Sheffield was Sheffield Phelps (1824-1905), an American politician and judge from Connecticut.
Other notable individuals with the first name Sheffield include:
1. Sheffield Ingalls (1875-1937), an American businessman and politician from Kansas.
2. Sheffield Airey (1884-1967), an English cricketer who played for Somerset County Cricket Club.
3. Sheffield Bright (1918-2009), an American lawyer and World War II veteran from North Carolina.
4. Sheffield Humberstone (1936-2021), a British actor and playwright best known for his work in television and theater.
5. Sheffield Buck (1956-present), an American artist and illustrator known for his work in children's literature.
While the name Sheffield is not as common as some other English names, it has a distinct connection to the industrial heritage of the city it is named after, and its use as a given name reflects the pride and association with this historic town.
People
Sheffield + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sheffield 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
Sheffield: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sheffield?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 32 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sheffield 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 10,711,073 US residents.
Is Sheffield a common name?
We classify Sheffield as "Very Rare". It ranks above 47.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 77 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sheffield most popular?
The single biggest year for Sheffield was 1919, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sheffield is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sheffield in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 151 people with the name Sheffield, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,179 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 Sheffield 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 Sheffield?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sheffield leans strongly male. 133 people counted with this name were male (86.4%), compared with 21 female bearers (13.6%). 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 Sheffield?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sheffield is White at 55.0%. The next largest groups are Black (36.4%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Sheffield most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sheffield in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.0% (83 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 Sheffield in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sheffield a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sheffield 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 Sheffield still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sheffield 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 Sheffield 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 Americans are named Sheffield?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.