John Williams
There are approximately 16,205 people named John Williams living in the United States today. That makes this name combination uncommon, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 21,151 Americans.
This estimate combines SSA birth records for the first name John with Census Bureau frequency data for the surname Williams. Below you will find a breakdown of both names, including popularity trends, gender data, and ancestry information.
Expected bearers
16,205
1 in 21,151
Named John
2.9M
Alive today
Named Williams
1.9M
Alive today
US population
343M
Denominator
Estimated living: 2.9M
Rarity: Very Common
Gender: Male
Peak year: 1947
Average age: 57
Estimated bearers: 1.9M
Rarity: Very Common
Census rank: #3
Per 100K: 550.97
Top ancestry: Black (47.7%)
First name trend
John: popularity over time
Year-by-year SSA birth registrations for the first name John. The peak year was 1947 with 88,524 births. The average person named John today is 57 years old.
Babies born per year
Ethnicity
Ancestry of the Williams surname
Self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people with the surname Williams, from the 2010 US Census Bureau. The largest group is Black at 47.7%.
- Black or African American47.7%
- White45.8%
- Two or more races2.8%
- Hispanic or Latino2.5%
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8%
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5%
Methodology
How we calculated this
The first name John has a living-bearer frequency of 0.8581% of the US population, based on 2,941,241 estimated living Americans carrying this first name (from SSA birth records going back to 1880, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables).
The surname Williams appears at a rate of 550.97 per 100,000 residents in the 2010 Census Bureau surname file, which translates to a frequency of 0.5510%.
Multiplying these two independent frequencies against the current US population of 342,754,338 gives an expected count of approximately 16,205 people with the full name John Williams. This assumes statistical independence between first and last names, which is a simplification but produces reasonable estimates for most combinations.
Related
Other people named John
Related
Other people with the surname Williams
FAQ
John Williams: questions and answers
How many people are named John Williams?
We estimate approximately 16,205 people in the United States share the full name John Williams. That works out to about 1 in 21,151 Americans. This is calculated by combining the first-name frequency (0.8581%) with the surname frequency (550.97 per 100K) against the current US population.
How rare is the name John Williams?
We classify John Williams as "Uncommon". About 1 in 21,151 Americans share this exact first and last name combination.
Is John a male or female name?
John is predominantly male. Out of 5,196,210 total SSA registrations, 99.6% were male and 0.4% were female. See the full John profile for detailed gender data.
Where does this data come from?
First-name data comes from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files (1880 to 2024). Surname data comes from the 2010 US Census Bureau decennial surname tables. Living-bearer estimates use CDC actuarial life tables to adjust for mortality. Read the full methodology.