Snowden
From the Old English words "snaw" and "dun", meaning an open, snowy hill.
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Snowden. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Snowden today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Snowden births was 1924 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Snowden. 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 Snowden. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
1924
7 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2015 SSA rank
#11,884
Tracked since 1886
Popularity
Snowden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Snowden from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 17 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1930s peak, Snowden remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Snowden 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 Snowden 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 Snowden
The given name Snowden is an English surname derived from the Old English words "snaw" meaning snow and "denu" meaning valley. It likely originated as a topographic name given to someone who lived in a snowy valley or a place near a valley where snow accumulated. The earliest known recording of the name dates back to the 13th century in Yorkshire, England.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Snowden was Sir Richard de Snowden, a 14th-century English knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War. Records indicate he was born around 1320 and died in 1385. Another historical figure with this name was William Snowden, an English courtier who served under King Henry VIII in the 16th century.
In the 17th century, the name appears in religious texts and records of the Puritans who settled in New England. One notable individual was Randolph Snowden, a Puritan minister born in England in 1615 who later emigrated to Massachusetts and served as a pastor in the town of Eastham.
The 18th century saw the name spread across the American colonies, with individuals like Isaac Snowden, a prominent Philadelphia merchant and patriot during the American Revolutionary War. He was born in 1732 and played a role in the First Continental Congress.
In the 19th century, one of the most well-known individuals with the name Snowden was James Ross Snowden, an American writer, historian, and director of the United States Mint. He was born in 1809 and served as the Mint's director from 1853 to 1861.
Throughout its history, the name Snowden has been associated with notable figures across various fields, including politics, religion, and literature. While its origins can be traced back to Old English, the name has endured and been carried on by individuals in different parts of the world over the centuries.
People
Snowden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Snowden 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
Snowden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Snowden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Snowden 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 Snowden a common name?
We classify Snowden 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, 52 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Snowden most popular?
The single biggest year for Snowden was 1924, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Snowden is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Snowden a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Snowden 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.
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.