Trilby
A name of uncertain origin, possibly from the French for a heroine character.
Name Census estimates that about 225 living Americans carry the first name Trilby. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Trilby today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Trilby births was 1925 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Trilby. 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 Trilby with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
225
~ 1 in 1,523,353 Americans
Peak year
1925
22 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
2010 SSA rank
#16,835
Tracked since 1895
Census
Trilby in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 400 people with the first name Trilby, which placed it at #24,171 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
#24,171
National first-name rank
People counted
400
400 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Trilby
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Trilby is White at 84.3%. The next largest groups are Black (8.8%) and Hispanic (2.5%). 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 Trilby 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 Trilby at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.3% · 337
- Black or African American8.8% · 35
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 10
- Two or more races2.3% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
Popularity
Trilby: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Trilby from the 1890s through to the 2010s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 116 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Trilby 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 Trilby 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 Trilby
The name Trilby has its roots in the French language and culture. It originated as a variant of the name Thibault, which is derived from the Germanic name Theudebald, meaning "people-bold" or "bold among the people." This name was popular during the Middle Ages in France and other parts of Europe.
Trilby gained wider recognition and popularity after the publication of the novel "Trilby" by George du Maurier in 1894. The book tells the story of a young woman named Trilby O'Ferrall, a model in an artist's colony in Paris. The character's name was likely chosen by the author for its unique and exotic sound.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Trilby can be found in the 17th century. Trilby Cox was an English actress born in 1663. She was known for her performances in Restoration comedies and was part of the Duke's Company, one of the prominent theater companies of the time.
In the 19th century, Trilby Whitaker (1855-1937) was a British novelist and playwright. She wrote several novels, including "The Windmill on the Dune" and "The Bracegirdle," as well as plays such as "The Idolaters."
Another notable figure with the name Trilby was Trilby Clark (1871-1950), an American vaudeville performer and actress. She appeared in numerous stage productions and silent films during the early 20th century.
Trilby Parker (1929-2022) was an American actress and singer. She had a successful career on Broadway, appearing in musicals such as "Where's Charley?" and "Brigadoon." She also performed in several television shows and films.
Trilby Plant (1898-1980) was a British artist and illustrator. She is best known for her illustrations in children's books, including works by authors like A.A. Milne and Beatrix Potter.
People
Trilby + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Trilby 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
Trilby: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Trilby?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 225 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Trilby 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 1,523,353 US residents.
Is Trilby a common name?
We classify Trilby as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 567 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Trilby most popular?
The single biggest year for Trilby was 1925, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Trilby is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Trilby in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 400 people with the name Trilby, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,171 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 Trilby 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 Trilby?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Trilby appears almost entirely female. Of the 396 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Trilby?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Trilby is White at 84.3%. The next largest groups are Black (8.8%) and Hispanic (2.5%). 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 Trilby most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Trilby in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.3% (337 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 Trilby in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Trilby a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Trilby 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 Trilby still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Trilby 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 Trilby 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 are named Trilby?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.