Slate
A masculine name referring to a thin, flat piece of rock.
Name Census estimates that about 807 living Americans carry the first name Slate. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Slate today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Slate births was 2018 (56 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Slate. 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.
People living today
807
~ 1 in 424,727 Americans
Peak year
2018
56 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,376
Tracked since 1990
Census
Slate in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 648 people with the first name Slate, which placed it at #17,157 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
#17,157
National first-name rank
People counted
648
648 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Slate
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Slate is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.2%) and Hispanic (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 Slate 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 Slate at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.8% · 556
- Two or more races6.2% · 40
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 9
- Black or African American1.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
Popularity
Slate: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Slate 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 379 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Slate remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Slate 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 Slate during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Slates live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Slate, while Tennessee, Missouri, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Slate
The name Slate is an English word name, derived from the Middle English word "slat," meaning a thin flat piece of rock or stone. The name likely originated in the late medieval period, possibly as a nickname for someone who worked with slate or lived near a slate quarry.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Slate can be found in the court records of King Edward IV of England in the 15th century, where a man named John Slate is mentioned as a landowner in Gloucestershire.
In the 16th century, the name Slate appears in the parish records of St. Mary's Church in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, where a baptismal record lists a child named Slate Browne, born in 1587.
A notable historical figure with the name Slate was Benjamin Slate, an American Revolutionary War soldier from Pennsylvania, who served in the Continental Army and was present at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777.
Another individual with the name Slate was John Slate, a British painter and engraver who lived in the early 19th century and is known for his landscapes and architectural prints.
In the field of literature, one of the most famous bearers of the name Slate was the American writer and philosopher, Frederic Slate (1840-1923), whose works explored themes of individualism and personal liberty.
Other notable individuals with the name Slate include Samuel Slate (1879-1964), an American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Slate Pencil Company, and Elijah Slate (1892-1976), a renowned African American gospel singer and composer.
While the name Slate has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has continued to be used as a first name, particularly in English-speaking countries, perhaps due to its unique and distinctive quality, as well as its connection to the natural world.
People
Slate + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Slate 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
Slate: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Slate?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 807 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Slate 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 424,727 US residents.
Is Slate a common name?
We classify Slate as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 815 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Slate most popular?
The single biggest year for Slate was 2018, when 56 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Slate 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 Slate in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 648 people with the name Slate, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,157 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 Slate 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 Slate?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Slate leans strongly male. 637 people counted with this name were male (96.7%), compared with 22 female bearers (3.3%). 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 Slate?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Slate is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.2%) and Hispanic (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 Slate most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Slate in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.8% (556 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 Slate in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Slate a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Slate 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 Slate still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Slate 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 Slate 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 Slate?
See how many people share the name Slate on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.