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
Census
Snowden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 151 people with the first name Snowden, 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
74.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Snowden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Snowden is White at 74.2%. The next largest groups are Black (8.6%) and Hispanic (7.3%). 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 Snowden 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 Snowden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.2% · 112
- Black or African American8.6% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino7.3% · 11
- Two or more races4.6% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 3
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.
How common was Snowden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 151 people with the name Snowden, 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 Snowden 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 Snowden?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Snowden on both sides of the split. Of the 142 people counted with this name, 90 were male (63.4%) and 52 were female (36.6%). 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 Snowden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Snowden is White at 74.2%. The next largest groups are Black (8.6%) and Hispanic (7.3%). 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 Snowden most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Snowden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.2% (112 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 Snowden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
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.
Is Snowden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Snowden 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 Snowden 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 named Snowden?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.