Wing
A unisex name of English origin meaning "feathered appendage of a bird or insect".
Name Census estimates that about 108 living Americans carry the first name Wing. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Wing today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wing births was 1984 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wing. 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 Wing with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
108
~ 1 in 3,173,651 Americans
Peak year
1984
17 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
1990 SSA rank
#9,452
Tracked since 1881
Census
Wing in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,564 people with the first name Wing, which placed it at #4,985 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
#4,985
National first-name rank
People counted
3.6K
3,564 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
97.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wing
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wing is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.6%. The next largest groups are White (1.2%) and Hispanic (0.5%). 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 Wing 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 Wing at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander97.6% · 3,479
- White1.2% · 44
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 18
- Two or more races0.4% · 13
- Black or African American0.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Wing
Wing leans heavily male at 88.3% of total registrations, but 22 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Wing as a male name
- Ranked #9,452 in 1990
- 5 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1984 (10 births)
Wing as a female name
- Ranked #15,810 in 1996
- 5 female births in 1996
- Peak: 1984 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Wing on both sides of the split. Of the 3,560 people counted with this name, 2,541 were male (71.4%) and 1,019 were female (28.6%).
Popularity
Wing: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wing from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 60 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wing 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 Wing during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wings live
Origin
Meaning and history of Wing
The name Wing has its origins in the Old English language, derived from the word "wing," which referred to the appendage used for flight by birds and insects. It was initially used as a descriptive name, possibly given to someone with a distinctive gait or movement reminiscent of a wing's motion.
In ancient Anglo-Saxon texts, the word "wing" appears frequently, often in poetic descriptions of battles and warriors, likening their swift movements to the beating of wings. Some scholars suggest the name may have been bestowed upon individuals known for their agility or prowess in combat.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wing can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of landowners and properties in medieval England. It lists several individuals with the name, including Wing of Taunton and Wing of Huntingdon.
Throughout history, the name Wing has been borne by notable figures across various fields. In the 12th century, Wing of Thorpe was a prominent English landowner and knight who fought in the Crusades. In the 16th century, Wing Anderson was a renowned Danish navigator and explorer who charted vast expanses of the Arctic regions.
In the literary realm, Wing Tsun was a legendary Chinese martial artist and master of the Wing Chun style of Kung Fu, believed to have lived in the late 18th century. His teachings and techniques are still widely practiced today.
More recently, Wing Ding was a famous Chinese-American vaudeville performer and acrobat in the early 20th century, known for his daring aerial acts and comedic routines. He gained widespread popularity and is considered a pioneer in the world of vaudeville entertainment.
Another notable bearer of the name was Wing Tsit Chan, a renowned philosopher and scholar of Chinese thought, born in 1901. He made significant contributions to the understanding and translation of classical Chinese texts and played a pivotal role in introducing Eastern philosophies to the Western world.
People
Wing + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wing 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
Wing: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wing?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 108 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wing 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 3,173,651 US residents.
Is Wing a common name?
We classify Wing as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 188 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wing most popular?
The single biggest year for Wing was 1984, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wing is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wing in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,564 people with the name Wing, or 1.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,985 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 Wing 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 Wing?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Wing on both sides of the split. Of the 3,560 people counted with this name, 2,541 were male (71.4%) and 1,019 were female (28.6%). 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 Wing?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wing is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.6%. The next largest groups are White (1.2%) and Hispanic (0.5%). 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 Wing most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Wing in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.6% (3,479 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 Wing in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wing a male name?
Yes, 88.3% of people registered as Wing 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 Wing still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wing 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 Wing 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 Wing?
Find out how many Americans are named Wing on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.