Torrey
An English surname derived from the Old French territory name "la Tourette".
Name Census estimates that about 5,953 living Americans carry the first name Torrey. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 80.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Torrey today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Torrey births was 1977 (340 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Torrey. 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
6.0K
~ 1 in 57,577 Americans
Peak year
1977
340 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,850
Tracked since 1938
Census
Torrey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,889 people with the first name Torrey, which placed it at #3,982 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
#3,982
National first-name rank
People counted
4.9K
4,889 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Torrey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Torrey is White at 48.7%. The next largest groups are Black (40.7%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Torrey 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 Torrey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.7% · 2,382
- Black or African American40.7% · 1,991
- Two or more races4.8% · 233
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 195
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 51
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 37
Gender
Gender distribution for Torrey
Torrey is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 6,319 total registrations, 5,053 (80.0%) were male and 1,266 (20.0%) were female.
Torrey as a male name
- Ranked #4,850 in 2024
- 21 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1977 (302 births)
Torrey as a female name
- Ranked #13,309 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (59 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Torrey on both sides of the split. Of the 4,890 people counted with this name, 3,768 were male (77.1%) and 1,122 were female (22.9%).
Popularity
Torrey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Torrey from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 2,118 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Torrey 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 Torrey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Torreys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. California, Georgia, Texas recorded the most babies named Torrey, while Massachusetts, Washington, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 102 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Torrey
The name Torrey is believed to have its origins in the Old French word "tour," meaning a tower or fortified building. This suggests that the name may have been initially used as a surname or descriptive title for someone who lived or worked in a tower or fortified structure.
In the Middle Ages, many surnames derived from occupations or geographic locations became adopted as given names. The name Torrey likely followed this pattern, transitioning from a descriptive surname to a first name over time.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Torrey can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England and parts of Wales commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The Domesday Book includes entries for individuals with the surname "Torrey" or similar spellings, such as "Torri" or "Tori."
In the 13th century, the name Torrey appeared in various historical records and documents across Europe. For instance, a man named Torrey de Montfort was a prominent figure in the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in southern France during the early 1200s.
During the Renaissance period, the name Torrey gained popularity among the educated and intellectual classes. One notable individual was Torrey Cooke (1501-1572), an English scholar and translator who was part of the circle of humanists surrounding Sir Thomas More.
In the 17th century, Torrey Josselyn (1608-1675) was an English traveler and naturalist who documented the flora and fauna of New England in his work "New England's Rarities Discovered." His writings provided valuable insights into the natural history of the region during the early colonial period.
Another historically significant figure was Torrey Underwood (1668-1733), a British architect and surveyor who contributed to the rebuilding efforts in London after the Great Fire of 1666. Underwood's designs were influential in shaping the city's architectural landscape during the early 18th century.
Moving into the 19th century, Torrey Huntington (1789-1866) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut. He was also involved in the establishment of the American School for the Deaf.
In the realm of literature, Torrey Peters (1822-1892) was an American poet and writer who gained recognition for her collection of poems titled "Wanderings and Musings." Her works captured the spirit of the Romantic movement and explored themes of nature, love, and spirituality.
People
Torrey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Torrey 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
Torrey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Torrey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,953 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Torrey 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 57,577 US residents.
Is Torrey a common name?
We classify Torrey as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,319 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Torrey most popular?
The single biggest year for Torrey was 1977, when 340 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Torrey is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Torrey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,889 people with the name Torrey, or 1.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,982 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 Torrey 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 Torrey?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Torrey on both sides of the split. Of the 4,890 people counted with this name, 3,768 were male (77.1%) and 1,122 were female (22.9%). 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 Torrey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Torrey is White at 48.7%. The next largest groups are Black (40.7%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Torrey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Torrey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.7% (2,382 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 Torrey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Torrey a male name?
Yes, 80.0% of people registered as Torrey 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 Torrey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Torrey 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 Torrey 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 Torrey?
Want to know how many people share the name Torrey? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.