Simmons
A variant form of the name Simon with Hebrew roots meaning "he has heard".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Simmons. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 63.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Simmons today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Simmons births was 1919 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Simmons. 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 Simmons. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
1919
7 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
1919 SSA rank
#3,694
Tracked since 1913
Census
Simmons in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 249 people with the first name Simmons, which placed it at #33,298 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
#33,298
National first-name rank
People counted
249
249 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Simmons
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Simmons is White at 60.2%. The next largest groups are Black (29.7%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Simmons 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 Simmons at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.2% · 150
- Black or African American29.7% · 74
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 13
- Two or more races2.8% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Simmons
Simmons is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 27 total registrations, 17 (63.0%) were male and 10 (37.0%) were female.
Simmons as a male name
- Ranked #3,694 in 1919
- 7 male births in 1919
- Peak: 1919 (7 births)
Simmons as a female name
- Ranked #17,411 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2021 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Simmons on both sides of the split. Of the 246 people counted with this name, 145 were male (58.9%) and 101 were female (41.1%).
Popularity
Simmons: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Simmons from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 17 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Simmons remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Simmons 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 Simmons 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 Simmons
The name Simmons is an English given name derived from the biblical name Simon, which has its roots in the Hebrew name Shim'on, meaning "he has heard" or "he has listened." The name Simon was popularized through the New Testament figure Simon Peter, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ.
Historically, the name Simmons emerged as a medieval English diminutive form of Simon, with the addition of the suffix "-mons" or "-mon." This suffix was commonly used to create pet names or nicknames from longer given names during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Simmons can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of landowners and tenants commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name appears as "Simun," a variant spelling of Simon.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the given name Simmons. One of the earliest was Simmons of Frith, an English clergyman and theologian who lived in the 12th century and served as a canon of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
Another historical figure was Simmons Sutton, a 14th-century English landowner and member of Parliament who represented Somerset in the House of Commons during the reign of Edward III.
In the realm of literature, Simmons Bunbury was an English playwright and poet who lived in the 17th century. He is best known for his satirical works and collaborations with other renowned writers of the time.
Moving into the 19th century, Simmons Ryder was a prominent American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from Virginia from 1835 to 1841.
More recently, Simmons Battey was an American gynecologist and surgeon who lived in the late 19th century. He is credited with developing a surgical procedure known as the Battey operation, which involved removing the ovaries to treat certain conditions in women.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the given name Simmons throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence and adaptability across different eras and cultures.
People
Simmons + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Simmons 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
Simmons: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Simmons?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Simmons 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 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Simmons a common name?
We classify Simmons as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 27 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Simmons most popular?
The single biggest year for Simmons was 1919, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Simmons is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Simmons in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 249 people with the name Simmons, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,298 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 Simmons 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 Simmons?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Simmons on both sides of the split. Of the 246 people counted with this name, 145 were male (58.9%) and 101 were female (41.1%). 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 Simmons?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Simmons is White at 60.2%. The next largest groups are Black (29.7%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Simmons most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Simmons in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.2% (150 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 Simmons in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Simmons a male name?
Yes, 63.0% of people registered as Simmons 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 Simmons still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Simmons 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 Simmons 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 have the name Simmons?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.