Townsend
Of English origin, an occupational name for someone who lived in a town.
Name Census estimates that about 626 living Americans carry the first name Townsend. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Townsend today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Townsend births was 2021 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Townsend. 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
626
~ 1 in 547,531 Americans
Peak year
2021
30 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,048
Tracked since 1914
Gender
Gender distribution for Townsend
Out of the 841 babies given the name Townsend since 1880, 99.3% 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.
Townsend as a male name
- Ranked #4,048 in 2024
- 27 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (30 births)
Townsend as a female name
- Ranked #15,014 in 2023
- 6 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2023 (6 births)
Popularity
Townsend: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Townsend from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 190 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Townsend remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Townsend 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 Townsend during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Townsends live
Origin
Meaning and history of Townsend
The name Townsend has its origins in Old English, deriving from the words "tun" meaning "enclosure" or "town" and "sund" meaning "a narrow strip of land". It was originally an English place name referring to a settlement located on a strip of land or headland. This geographic name eventually transitioned into a surname and later a given name.
The earliest recorded use of Townsend as a surname dates back to the late 12th century in England. One of the first documented instances was Radulfus de Tunesenda, recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Hampshire in 1198. Over the centuries, the name took on various spellings such as Towneshend, Townshend, and Townsend.
In terms of historical references, the name Townsend appears in various medieval English records and documents. One notable mention is in the Domesday Book of 1086, where the place name "Tunsende" is listed among the lands held by the King in Kent.
The earliest recorded person with the given name Townsend was an English gentleman named Townsend Plantagenet, born in 1470. He was a member of the Plantagenet dynasty and a distant cousin of King Edward IV.
Townsend Goddard (1555-1624) was an English politician and Member of Parliament who served during the reign of King James I. He played a role in the establishment of the first English settlements in North America.
Sir Townsend Whelen (1601-1683) was an English naval officer and admiral who served in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century. He was renowned for his bravery and leadership in several naval battles.
Townsend Harris (1804-1878) was an American merchant and diplomat who played a crucial role in establishing diplomatic relations between the United States and Japan. He is credited with negotiating the Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1858, which opened up trade between the two nations.
Townsend Brown (1898-1985) was an American inventor and physicist best known for his work on electrogravitics and his theories on the connection between electricity and gravity. He conducted numerous experiments and developed several devices related to his research.
People
Townsend + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Townsend 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
Townsend: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Townsend?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 626 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Townsend 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 547,531 US residents.
Is Townsend a common name?
We classify Townsend as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 841 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Townsend most popular?
The single biggest year for Townsend was 2021, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Townsend is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Townsend a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Townsend 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.