Todd
A masculine name of English origin meaning "fox"
Name Census estimates that about 251,349 living Americans carry the first name Todd. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Todd today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Todd births was 1964 (15,396 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Todd. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Todd with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Todd is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,060 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Todd have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
251K
~ 1 in 1,364 Americans
Peak year
1964
15,396 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,596
Tracked since 1881
Census
Todd in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 238,705 people with the first name Todd, which placed it at #238 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
#238
National first-name rank
People counted
239K
238,705 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
79.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Todd
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Todd is White at 91.7%. The next largest groups are Black (3.5%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Todd 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 Todd at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.7% · 218,844
- Black or African American3.5% · 8,398
- Two or more races2.2% · 5,161
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 3,428
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 1,744
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1,130
Gender
Gender distribution for Todd
Out of the 283,295 babies given the name Todd since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Todd as a male name
- Ranked #1,596 in 2024
- 108 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1964 (15,349 births)
Todd as a female name
- Ranked #16,427 in 1998
- 5 female births in 1998
- Peak: 1968 (63 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Todd appears almost entirely male. Of the 238,713 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Todd: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Todd from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 129,154 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
Todd 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 Todd during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Todds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Ohio, New York recorded the most babies named Todd, while Alaska, Delaware, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5,478 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Todd
The name Todd is an English masculine given name that originated as a surname derived from the Old English word "tod", meaning fox. It was originally a nickname for someone with reddish-brown hair or fur-like hair, resembling the color of a fox.
The earliest recorded use of the name Todd dates back to the late 12th century in England, where it appeared as a surname in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire in 1194. Over time, it transitioned from being a surname to a given name, likely due to the influence of other animal-inspired names popular during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest historical references to the name Todd can be found in the records of the Hundred Rolls of 1273, which documented the names of landowners and taxpayers in England. The name was mainly concentrated in the northern counties of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire during this period.
The first notable bearer of the name Todd was John Todd (c. 1280 – c. 1350), an English clergyman who served as the Bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland during the 14th century. Another early figure was Hugh Todd (c. 1380 – c. 1440), a Scottish nobleman and landowner from East Lothian.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the name gained popularity among English Puritans, who often chose biblical or virtue-inspired names for their children. One prominent figure from this era was Hugh Todd (1570 – 1628), a Scottish-born Puritan minister who emigrated to Virginia and became a significant figure in the early colonization of North America.
In the 18th century, the name was borne by Samuel Todd (1717 – 1810), an American educator and politician who served as a member of the Continental Congress during the American Revolutionary War. Another notable figure was David Todd (1775 – 1855), a prominent American jurist and politician who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
The 19th century saw the rise of several influential individuals with the name Todd, including Reverend John Todd (1800 – 1873), an American Congregationalist minister and author, and Mary Todd Lincoln (1818 – 1882), the wife of President Abraham Lincoln and a prominent figure in her own right.
As the name continued to gain popularity in the English-speaking world, it was borne by several notable figures in the 20th century, such as Ralph Todd (1892 – 1992), a British chemist and Nobel Laureate, and Richard Todd (1919 – 2009), an Irish-born British actor known for his roles in films like The Longest Day and The Dam Busters.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Todd
People
Todd + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Todd 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
Todd: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Todd?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 251,349 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Todd 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 1,364 US residents.
Is Todd a common name?
We classify Todd as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 283,295 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Todd most popular?
The single biggest year for Todd was 1964, when 15,396 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Todd is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Todd in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 238,705 people with the name Todd, or 79.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #238 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 Todd 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 Todd?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Todd appears almost entirely male. Of the 238,713 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Todd?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Todd is White at 91.7%. The next largest groups are Black (3.5%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Todd most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Todd in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.7% (218,844 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 Todd in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Todd a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Todd 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 Todd still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Todd 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 Todd 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 Todd?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Todd at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.