Skarlett
A feminine variant form of Scarlet, likely derived from the Old French word escarlate meaning "scarlet".
Name Census estimates that about 1,025 living Americans carry the first name Skarlett. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Skarlett today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Skarlett births was 2016 (87 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Skarlett. 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 Skarlett with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Skarlett is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 334,394 Americans
Peak year
2016
87 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,003
Tracked since 2002
Census
Skarlett in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 590 people with the first name Skarlett, which placed it at #18,296 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
#18,296
National first-name rank
People counted
590
590 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
50.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Skarlett
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Skarlett is Hispanic at 50.3%. The next largest groups are White (39.0%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Skarlett 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 Skarlett at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino50.3% · 297
- White39.0% · 230
- Two or more races4.9% · 29
- Black or African American2.2% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 10
Popularity
Skarlett: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Skarlett from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 638 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Skarlett remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Skarlett 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 Skarlett during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Skarletts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Skarlett, while New Jersey, Michigan, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Skarlett
The name Skarlett is a variant spelling of the English name Scarlett, which is derived from the word "scarlet" meaning a vivid red color. The name has its origins in the Old French word "escarlate" and ultimately traces back to the Persian word "saqalāt" meaning a type of rich fabric dyed with an expensive crimson dye harvested from insects.
Scarlett first appeared as a surname in medieval England, referring to someone who dyed cloth or dressed in scarlet fabric. It later transitioned to being used as a feminine given name, with early examples found in English parish records from the 16th century onwards.
In literature, the name gained prominence through the character Scarlett O'Hara, the protagonist of Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel "Gone with the Wind" set in the American Civil War era. The novel's widespread popularity helped propel the name's usage as a first name.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Skarlett was Skarlett Vaughan (1571-1632), an English noblewoman and courtier during the reign of King James I. Another notable figure was Skarlett Meynell (1844-1923), an English writer and editor known for her poetry and literary criticism.
In the 20th century, Skarlett Johannson (1896-1982) was a Norwegian figure skater who competed in the 1924 and 1928 Winter Olympics. Skarlett Johansson (born 1984) is a contemporary American actress known for her roles in films like "Lost in Translation" and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Skarlett Riot (born 1983) is the stage name of an American singer-songwriter and guitarist known for her fusion of rock, pop, and electronic music. Skarlett Byrne (born 1980) is a British actress who has appeared in television shows like "Banana" and "The Village."
People
Skarlett + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Skarlett 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
Skarlett: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Skarlett?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,025 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Skarlett 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 334,394 US residents.
Is Skarlett a common name?
We classify Skarlett as "Rare". It ranks above 90.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,033 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Skarlett most popular?
The single biggest year for Skarlett was 2016, when 87 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Skarlett is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Skarlett in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 590 people with the name Skarlett, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,296 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 Skarlett 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 Skarlett?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Skarlett appears almost entirely female. Of the 590 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Skarlett?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Skarlett is Hispanic at 50.3%. The next largest groups are White (39.0%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Skarlett most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Skarlett in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.3% (297 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 Skarlett in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Skarlett a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Skarlett 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 Skarlett still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Skarlett 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 Skarlett 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 Skarlett?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.