Wayman
A masculine name of English origin meaning "traveler" or "guide."
Name Census estimates that about 1,361 living Americans carry the first name Wayman. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wayman today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wayman births was 1950 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wayman. 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
1.4K
~ 1 in 251,840 Americans
Peak year
1950
59 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
2010 SSA rank
#10,699
Tracked since 1884
Census
Wayman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,220 people with the first name Wayman, which placed it at #10,772 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
#10,772
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,220 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wayman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wayman is Black at 48.0%. The next largest groups are White (42.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.2%). 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 Wayman 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 Wayman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.0% · 585
- White42.0% · 513
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 51
- Two or more races3.8% · 46
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 8
Popularity
Wayman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wayman from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 472 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wayman 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 Wayman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Waymans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Georgia, Texas, Arkansas recorded the most babies named Wayman, while West Virginia, Missouri, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wayman
The name Wayman is an English given name, derived from the Old English word "weg" meaning "way" or "path." It was originally an occupational surname for someone who maintained or repaired roads, paths, and highways. The name likely emerged in the medieval period, around the 11th or 12th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wayman can be found in the Domesday Book, a great survey of landowners and property commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The entry mentions a man named "Weyman" who was a tenant in the village of Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire.
In the 13th century, a famous English writer and scholar named Wayman de Wykeham was born around 1280 in Wickham, Hampshire. He went on to become the Bishop of Winchester and played a significant role in the construction of Winchester Cathedral and the founding of New College, Oxford.
During the 16th century, a notable figure named Wayman Vavassour lived in Yorkshire, England. He was a prominent landowner and member of the gentry, known for his involvement in local politics and affairs.
In the late 18th century, a British artist named Wayman Gendall (1778-1834) gained recognition for his landscape paintings and portraits. His works were exhibited at the Royal Academy and are held in various collections throughout the United Kingdom.
Another notable bearer of the name was Wayman Crow (1808-1885), an American farmer and politician from Missouri. He served as a member of the Missouri State Legislature and was involved in the establishment of several educational institutions in the state.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have carried the name Wayman. While it may not be a common name today, its origins can be traced back to the medieval period in England, where it was originally an occupational surname related to the maintenance of roads and pathways.
People
Wayman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wayman 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
Wayman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wayman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,361 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wayman 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 251,840 US residents.
Is Wayman a common name?
We classify Wayman as "Rare". It ranks above 91.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,850 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wayman most popular?
The single biggest year for Wayman was 1950, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wayman is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wayman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,220 people with the name Wayman, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,772 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 Wayman 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 Wayman?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wayman appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,231 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Wayman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wayman is Black at 48.0%. The next largest groups are White (42.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.2%). 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 Wayman most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Wayman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.0% (585 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 Wayman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wayman a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wayman 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 Wayman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wayman 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 Wayman 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 Wayman?
Want to know how many Americans are named Wayman? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.