Woodard
Of Anglo-Saxon origin, representing a person who lived in or near a wooded area.
Name Census estimates that about 62 living Americans carry the first name Woodard. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Woodard today is around 80 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Woodard births was 1920 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Woodard. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Woodard is about 80 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Woodards were born before 1956.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Woodard. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
62
~ 1 in 5,528,296 Americans
Peak year
1920
18 babies that year
Average age
80
years old
1958 SSA rank
#3,939
Tracked since 1911
Census
Woodard in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 139 people with the first name Woodard, which placed it at #47,200 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
#47,200
National first-name rank
People counted
139
139 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Woodard
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Woodard is White at 75.5%. The next largest groups are Black (22.3%) and Hispanic (0.7%). 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 Woodard 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 Woodard at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.5% · 105
- Black or African American22.3% · 31
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 1
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1
Popularity
Woodard: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Woodard from the 1910s through to the 1950s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 96 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Woodard remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Woodard 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 Woodard during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Woodards live
Origin
Meaning and history of Woodard
The given name Woodard has its origins in the English language, with its earliest roots traced back to medieval times. The name is derived from the Old English words "wudu" meaning "wood" and "weard" meaning "guard" or "keeper." This combination suggests that the name originally referred to someone who guarded or kept watch over a wooded area or forest.
During the Middle Ages, the name Woodard was primarily used as a surname, reflecting the occupation or role of an individual within a community. As surnames became more widespread, some were eventually adopted as given names, leading to the emergence of Woodard as a first name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Woodard can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This historical document mentions individuals with the surname "Wodeward" or "Wodewarde," which are believed to be early variations of the modern spelling.
In the 13th century, the name appeared in the form "Wodewarde" in the Curia Regis Rolls, a collection of legal records from the royal court of England. This suggests that individuals bearing this name held positions of authority or responsibility during that time.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have carried the given name Woodard:
1. Woodard Lethton (c. 1450 - 1520), an English merchant and member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers in London.
2. Woodard Prentice (1592 - 1671), an English Puritan minister and author known for his sermons and theological writings.
3. Woodard Harrington (1725 - 1787), a British military officer who served in the Royal Navy during the American Revolutionary War.
4. Woodard Browning (1804 - 1879), an American poet and writer, best known for his works celebrating nature and rural life.
5. Woodard Quincy (1867 - 1931), an American educator and advocate for progressive education, known for founding the Woodard School for Boys in Massachusetts.
While the name Woodard may not have been as common as some other English names throughout history, its connection to the natural world and the role of guardianship or protection imbued it with a sense of reverence and respect in certain contexts.
People
Woodard + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Woodard 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
Woodard: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Woodard?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 62 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Woodard 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 5,528,296 US residents.
Is Woodard a common name?
We classify Woodard as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 283 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Woodard most popular?
The single biggest year for Woodard was 1920, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Woodard is about 80 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Woodard in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 139 people with the name Woodard, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #47,200 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 Woodard 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 Woodard?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Woodard leans strongly male. 132 people counted with this name were male (91.7%), compared with 12 female bearers (8.3%). 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 Woodard?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Woodard is White at 75.5%. The next largest groups are Black (22.3%) and Hispanic (0.7%). 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 Woodard most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Woodard in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.5% (105 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 Woodard in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Woodard a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Woodard 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 Woodard still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Woodard 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 Woodard 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 Woodard?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.