Timber
A masculine name from English meaning "a wooden beam or log".
Name Census estimates that about 2,291 living Americans carry the first name Timber. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 63.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Timber today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Timber births was 2021 (132 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Timber. 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
- • Timber sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Timber is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 149,609 Americans
Peak year
2021
132 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,258
Tracked since 1970
Census
Timber in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,690 people with the first name Timber, which placed it at #8,560 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
#8,560
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,690 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Timber
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Timber is White at 82.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.8%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Timber 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 Timber at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.3% · 1,391
- Two or more races6.8% · 115
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 65
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.7% · 63
- Black or African American3.0% · 51
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Timber
Timber is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,324 total registrations, 860 (37.0%) were male and 1,464 (63.0%) were female.
Timber as a male name
- Ranked #3,258 in 2024
- 37 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (58 births)
Timber as a female name
- Ranked #3,495 in 2024
- 45 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (84 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Timber on both sides of the split. Of the 1,691 people counted with this name, 596 were male (35.2%) and 1,095 were female (64.8%).
Popularity
Timber: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Timber from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 917 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Timber remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Timber 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 Timber during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Timbers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas recorded the most babies named Timber, while Utah, Montana, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Timber
The name Timber is an English word that refers to wood suitable for constructional purposes. It is not a traditional given name and has no known linguistic origins or cultural roots. However, in recent times, it has been adopted as a unique and unconventional first name, perhaps inspired by the natural world or as a nod to environmental consciousness.
There are no historical records or ancient texts that mention Timber as a personal name. Its usage as a given name is a modern phenomenon, likely emerging in the late 20th or early 21st century. The earliest recorded instances of Timber as a first name are difficult to pinpoint precisely, as it is a relatively new and uncommon choice.
Despite its lack of historical precedence, a few notable individuals have borne the first name Timber. One example is Timber Hawkeye, a Buddhist teacher and author born in the United States in 1966. Another is Timber Jake Webb, an American football player who played in the National Football League (NFL) in the early 2000s.
Additionally, there is Timber Joey Mellows, a British drummer and musician known for his work with the band Honeyfeet. Timber Brianne Vance is an American singer-songwriter and artist who has released several independent albums.
Timber Ronstadt is perhaps the most well-known individual with this first name, though he is not as famous as his aunt, the renowned singer Linda Ronstadt. Timber Ronstadt is an American musician and producer born in 1966.
It is important to note that while these individuals have been recorded with the first name Timber, its usage remains relatively rare and unconventional. The name is more commonly associated with the building material or natural resource than as a personal name.
People
Timber + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Timber 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
Timber: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Timber?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,291 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Timber 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 149,609 US residents.
Is Timber a common name?
We classify Timber as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,324 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Timber most popular?
The single biggest year for Timber was 2021, when 132 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Timber is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Timber in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,690 people with the name Timber, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,560 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 Timber 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 Timber?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Timber on both sides of the split. Of the 1,691 people counted with this name, 596 were male (35.2%) and 1,095 were female (64.8%). 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 Timber?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Timber is White at 82.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.8%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Timber most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Timber in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.3% (1,391 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 Timber in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Timber a female name?
Yes, 63.0% of people registered as Timber in the SSA data are female. 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 Timber still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Timber 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 Timber 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 common is the name Timber?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Timber at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.