Warren
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "enclosure guardian".
Name Census estimates that about 92,526 living Americans carry the first name Warren. It sits at #262 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Warren today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Warren births was 1921 (7,826 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Warren. 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 Warren with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Warren is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 962 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
93K
~ 1 in 3,704 Americans
Peak year
1921
7,826 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2024 SSA rank
#262
Tracked since 1880
Census
Warren in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 87,422 people with the first name Warren, which placed it at #607 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
#607
National first-name rank
People counted
87K
87,422 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
28.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Warren
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Warren is White at 72.9%. The next largest groups are Black (16.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.6%). 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 Warren 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 Warren at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.9% · 63,727
- Black or African American16.7% · 14,622
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 3,170
- Two or more races3.3% · 2,866
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 2,103
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 934
Gender
Gender distribution for Warren
Out of the 184,006 babies given the name Warren since 1880, 99.5% 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.
Warren as a male name
- Ranked #262 in 2024
- 1,327 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1921 (7,798 births)
Warren as a female name
- Ranked #10,191 in 2024
- 10 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1929 (30 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Warren appears almost entirely male. Of the 87,424 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Warren: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Warren from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 39,025 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
Warren 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 Warren during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Warrens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Warren, while Nevada, Alaska, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,447 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Warren
The name Warren originates from the Old English word "wearn" or "waerna," meaning a gamekeeper or a person responsible for overseeing and protecting the game animals in a specific area. It was commonly used in England during the Middle Ages, particularly among those employed as wardens or gamekeepers for noble estates or royal hunting grounds.
Warren is derived from the Old French word "warenne," which also meant a game reserve or a place where rabbits and hares were bred and kept for hunting purposes. The name was often associated with individuals who held positions as overseers or caretakers of these warrens or game reserves.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Warren can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and property values in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions several individuals with the name Warren, indicating its usage during the Norman period.
In the 12th century, a prominent figure named William de Warenne held the title of Earl of Surrey and played a significant role in English history during the reign of King Henry II. He was a powerful nobleman and a close ally of the king, renowned for his military prowess and loyalty.
Another notable bearer of the name was Earl Warren (1891-1974), an American lawyer and politician who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1953 to 1969. His tenure was marked by landmark decisions such as Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed racial segregation in public schools.
In the world of literature, Warren Edward Austin (1877-1962) was an American playwright and screenwriter best known for his plays "The Bride of the Lamb" and "The Whiteheaded Boy." He was also a co-founder of the renowned Provincetown Players theater company.
Warren G. Harding (1865-1923) was the 29th President of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. His presidency was characterized by economic prosperity and the establishment of new policies, but it was also tainted by scandals involving members of his administration.
Warren Beatty (born 1937) is an acclaimed American actor, director, and producer known for his roles in films such as "Bonnie and Clyde," "Shampoo," and "Reds." He has been nominated for numerous Academy Awards and has left a lasting impact on the entertainment industry.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Warren
People
Warren + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Warren 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
Warren: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Warren?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 92,526 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Warren 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 3,704 US residents.
Is Warren a common name?
We classify Warren as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 184,006 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Warren most popular?
The single biggest year for Warren was 1921, when 7,826 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Warren 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 Warren in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 87,422 people with the name Warren, or 28.94 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #607 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 Warren 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 Warren?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Warren appears almost entirely male. Of the 87,424 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Warren?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Warren is White at 72.9%. The next largest groups are Black (16.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.6%). 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 Warren most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Warren in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.9% (63,727 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 Warren in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Warren a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Warren 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 Warren still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Warren 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 Warren 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 Americans are named Warren?
See how many Americans are named Warren on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.