Talbot
A name of Old French origin meaning "stalwart" or "brave person".
Name Census estimates that about 308 living Americans carry the first name Talbot. It is a predominantly male name (97.6% of registrations). The average person named Talbot today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Talbot births was 1969 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Talbot. 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
308
~ 1 in 1,112,839 Americans
Peak year
1969
14 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2020 SSA rank
#11,853
Tracked since 1913
Gender
Gender distribution for Talbot
Talbot leans heavily male at 97.6% of total registrations, but 11 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Talbot as a male name
- Ranked #11,853 in 2020
- 6 male births in 2020
- Peak: 1969 (14 births)
Talbot as a female name
- Ranked #20,146 in 2008
- 5 female births in 2008
- Peak: 2002 (6 births)
Popularity
Talbot: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Talbot from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 76 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Talbot 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 Talbot 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 Talbot
The name Talbot has its origins in the Old French language and can be traced back to the medieval times. It is believed to be derived from the Old French words "taille" (to cut) and "bois" (wood), referring to a woodcutter or a forester.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Talbot can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of the great survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears in various forms, such as "Talebot" and "Talebusc."
The Talbot family was a prominent Norman noble family that played a significant role in English history. Geoffrey Talbot (c. 1110 – c. 1175) was a renowned English knight and Baron of Eccleshill during the reign of King Henry II. His son, Richard Talbot (c. 1145 – 1192), was also a distinguished military leader and accompanied Richard the Lionheart on the Third Crusade.
Another notable figure bearing the name was John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury (c. 1387 – 1453), an English military commander who served during the Hundred Years' War. He earned the nickname "The English Achilles" for his bravery and military prowess on the battlefield.
In the realm of literature, the name Talbot appears in William Shakespeare's historical play "Henry VI, Part 1," where it is given to the character of Sir John Talbot, the heroic English commander who fought against the French during the Hundred Years' War.
Other famous individuals with the name Talbot include Wilfred Talbot Smith (1882 – 1967), a British geographer and explorer who led expeditions to the Middle East and Africa, and Dame Gillian Talbot Lynne (1926 – 2018), a renowned British ballerina and choreographer.
People
Talbot + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Talbot as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Talbot: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Talbot?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 308 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Talbot 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 1,112,839 US residents.
Is Talbot a common name?
We classify Talbot as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 461 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Talbot most popular?
The single biggest year for Talbot was 1969, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Talbot is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Talbot a male name?
Yes, 97.6% of people registered as Talbot 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.