Standford
From an Old English stone ford, meaning "stony ford" or "stone crossing".
Name Census estimates that about 15 living Americans carry the first name Standford. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Standford today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Standford births was 1955 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Standford. 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 Standford is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Standfords were born before 1965.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Standford. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
15
~ 1 in 22,850,289 Americans
Peak year
1955
10 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
1955 SSA rank
#2,737
Tracked since 1927
Popularity
Standford: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Standford from the 1920s through to the 1950s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 15 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Standford 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 Standford 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 Standford
The name Standford is an English given name derived from the Old English words "stan" meaning stone and "ford" meaning a shallow crossing or place to ford a river. It originated in areas of England where there were stone fords across rivers or streams.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name dates back to the 11th century Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholders in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Stanforde" referring to landowners and villages with stone fords across waterways.
In the 12th century, a Standford is mentioned in the chronicles of the Benedictine abbey of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England. A monk named Standford is recorded as having witnessed a land grant charter in 1135.
The name gained prominence in the 13th century with Standford of Standford, born around 1200, a wealthy landowner and sheriff of Shropshire, England. His descendants continued using the name over several generations.
A notable bearer of the name was Standford Digby, born in 1551, an English Catholic activist and conspirator involved in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 to assassinate King James I. He was executed for high treason in 1606.
Another Standford of historical significance was Standford Fleming, born in 1827, a Canadian engineer and inventor who pioneered the use of global time zones. He proposed adopting a standard or prime meridian at the International Meridian Conference in 1884.
People
Standford + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Standford 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
Standford: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Standford?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Standford 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 22,850,289 US residents.
Is Standford a common name?
We classify Standford as "Very Rare". It ranks above 35.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 25 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Standford most popular?
The single biggest year for Standford was 1955, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Standford is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Standford in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Standford a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Standford 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 Standford still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Standford 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 Standford 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Standford?
Find out how many people have the name Standford on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.