Woodroe
A masculine given name derived from the English words "wood" and "roe".
Name Census estimates that about 99 living Americans carry the first name Woodroe. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Woodroe today is around 85 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Woodroe births was 1918 (72 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Woodroe. 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 Woodroe is about 85 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Woodroes were born before 1951.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Woodroe. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
99
~ 1 in 3,462,165 Americans
Peak year
1918
72 babies that year
Average age
85
years old
1959 SSA rank
#3,983
Tracked since 1912
Popularity
Woodroe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Woodroe from the 1910s through to the 1950s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 381 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Woodroe 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 Woodroe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Woodroes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Woodroe, while South Carolina, Oklahoma, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Woodroe
The name Woodroe has its origins in the Old English language, dating back to the Anglo-Saxon period of the 5th to 11th centuries. It is derived from the combination of the words "wudu," meaning "wood," and "roe," referring to a small deer or roe deer. This suggests that the name may have been given to someone who lived in or near a forested area where roe deer were found.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Woodroe can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This indicates that the name was in use among the Anglo-Saxon population at the time of the Norman Conquest.
In the Middle Ages, the name Woodroe appeared occasionally in various historical records and chronicles, although it was not particularly common. One notable individual bearing this name was Woodroe of Warwick, a 13th-century landowner and minor nobleman who held estates in the county of Warwickshire.
During the Renaissance period, the name Woodroe gained some popularity among English gentry and landed families. Sir Woodroe Wyndham (1510-1563) was a prominent figure in this era, serving as a member of Parliament and holding influential positions at the court of King Henry VIII.
In the 17th century, Woodroe Cromwell (1592-1668) was a distant cousin of Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland. He was a soldier and landowner who fought for the Parliamentarian cause during the English Civil War.
Another notable figure was Woodroe Hutchinson (1715-1789), a Scottish philosopher and writer who made significant contributions to the Scottish Enlightenment. His works explored various topics, including metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics.
As the centuries progressed, the name Woodroe became less common, although it continued to appear sporadically in historical records and among certain families with longstanding traditions of using unique or unusual given names.
People
Woodroe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Woodroe 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
Woodroe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Woodroe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 99 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Woodroe 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 3,462,165 US residents.
Is Woodroe a common name?
We classify Woodroe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 784 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Woodroe most popular?
The single biggest year for Woodroe was 1918, when 72 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Woodroe is about 85 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Woodroe a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Woodroe 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.
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.