Waco
A name derived from an Indigenous American Hueco word meaning "a valley".
Name Census estimates that about 135 living Americans carry the first name Waco. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Waco today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Waco births was 1974 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Waco. 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
135
~ 1 in 2,538,921 Americans
Peak year
1974
13 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,097
Tracked since 1913
Census
Waco in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 186 people with the first name Waco, which placed it at #40,168 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
#40,168
National first-name rank
People counted
186
186 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Waco
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Waco is White at 71.0%. The next largest groups are Black (14.0%) and Two or More Races (5.9%). 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 Waco 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 Waco at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.0% · 132
- Black or African American14.0% · 26
- Two or more races5.9% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 3
Popularity
Waco: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Waco from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 79 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
Waco 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 Waco 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 Waco
The name Waco is believed to have its origins in the Native American Hueco language, spoken by the Hueco people who inhabited the area around present-day Waco, Texas. The name itself is thought to derive from the word "waco," which means "a valley" or "a stand of trees" in the Hueco language.
In the early 19th century, the area now known as Waco was home to several Native American tribes, including the Waco, Tawakoni, and Kichai. As settlers began to arrive in the region, they adopted the name "Waco" to refer to the nearby village and the river that flowed through it.
While the name Waco does not have any known historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been associated with several notable figures throughout history. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Waco was in the late 1700s, when a Native American chief named Waco was mentioned in the journals of Spanish explorers.
In the 19th century, a prominent figure named Waco Adair (1837-1915) was a Cherokee leader and diplomat who played a significant role in the negotiations between the Cherokee Nation and the United States government. He was known for his efforts to protect the rights and land of his people.
Another notable individual with the name Waco was Waco Walker (1899-1976), an African American blues singer and guitarist who was active in the 1920s and 1930s. He is considered a pioneer of the Texas blues sound and is remembered for his influential recordings and performances.
In the realm of sports, Waco McDoniel (1938-1969) was an American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Detroit Pistons and the San Francisco Warriors in the 1960s.
Finally, Waco Thompson (1908-1983) was a Canadian ice hockey player who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Americans in the 1930s. He was known for his defensive skills and was a member of the Maple Leafs team that won the Stanley Cup in 1932.
People
Waco + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Waco as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Waco: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Waco?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 135 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Waco 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 2,538,921 US residents.
Is Waco a common name?
We classify Waco as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 171 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Waco most popular?
The single biggest year for Waco was 1974, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Waco is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Waco in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 186 people with the name Waco, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,168 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 Waco 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 Waco?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Waco leans strongly male. 179 people counted with this name were male (94.7%), compared with 10 female bearers (5.3%). 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 Waco?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Waco is White at 71.0%. The next largest groups are Black (14.0%) and Two or More Races (5.9%). 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 Waco most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Waco in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.0% (132 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 Waco in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Waco a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Waco 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 Waco still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Waco 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 Waco 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 called Waco?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.