Squire
A title denoting a young man of good birth tending to a knight.
Name Census estimates that about 131 living Americans carry the first name Squire. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Squire today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Squire births was 1918 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Squire. 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
- • The typical person named Squire is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Squires were born before 1967.
People living today
131
~ 1 in 2,616,445 Americans
Peak year
1918
17 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
1997 SSA rank
#10,599
Tracked since 1880
Census
Squire in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 236 people with the first name Squire, which placed it at #34,545 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
#34,545
National first-name rank
People counted
236
236 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Squire
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Squire is White at 57.6%. The next largest groups are Black (35.2%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Squire 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 Squire at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.6% · 136
- Black or African American35.2% · 83
- Two or more races4.7% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 2
Popularity
Squire: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Squire from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1880s, with 87 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1880s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Squire 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 Squire 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 Squire
The given name Squire originates from the Old French word "esquire", which was derived from the Late Latin "scutarius", meaning "shield bearer". This name has its roots in medieval times when it was used to refer to a young man of noble birth who attended a knight as an apprentice or shield-bearer.
The earliest recorded use of the name Squire can be traced back to the 12th century in England, where it was initially a title before becoming a personal name. It was commonly used among the English gentry and aristocracy, reflecting the social status associated with the role of a squire in the medieval feudal system.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Squire was Sir Squire Bancroft (1841-1926), an English actor and theatre manager who co-founded the Haymarket Theatre in London. He was known for his successful partnership with his wife, Marie Bancroft, and their contributions to the theatre industry in Victorian England.
Another prominent figure with the name Squire was Squire Boone (1696-1765), an American pioneer and frontiersman who was the older brother of the famous explorer Daniel Boone. Squire Boone played a significant role in the early settlement of Kentucky and was among the first to establish a homestead in the region.
In the realm of literature, Squire Allworthy is a notable character from the novel "The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling" by Henry Fielding, published in 1749. Allworthy is portrayed as a benevolent and wealthy landowner who takes in and raises the foundling Tom Jones, serving as a central figure in the novel's exploration of morality and social class.
Squire Whipple (1804-1888) was an American naval officer and inventor who is credited with designing and constructing the first successful screw-propelled steam vessel in the United States. His innovative work on propeller-driven ships made significant contributions to naval technology and maritime transportation.
Lastly, Squire Patton Boggs (1893-1959), better known as Squire Boggs, was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Representative from Delaware. He played a prominent role in the Democratic Party and was actively involved in various political and legal endeavors throughout his career.
People
Squire + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Squire 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
Squire: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Squire?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 131 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Squire 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 2,616,445 US residents.
Is Squire a common name?
We classify Squire as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 511 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Squire most popular?
The single biggest year for Squire was 1918, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Squire is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Squire in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 236 people with the name Squire, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,545 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 Squire 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 Squire?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Squire leans strongly male. 229 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 6 female bearers (2.6%). 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 Squire?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Squire is White at 57.6%. The next largest groups are Black (35.2%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Squire most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Squire in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.6% (136 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 Squire in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Squire a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Squire 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 Squire still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Squire 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 Squire 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 share the name Squire?
Want to know how many Americans are named Squire? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.