How rare is the name Agnes?

37,898 people in the United States have the first name Agnes, about 1 in 7,970. It ranks #1,090 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

AGNES

#1,090

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
37,898
About
1 in 7,970
This common or more
71.2%
Who bears it

Of the 37,898 people named Agnes, 61.7% reported their origin as White, 18.1% as Black and 12.6% as Asian or Pacific Islander. Virtually all are female (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Agnes peaked in 1918, when 5,303 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1918
Births that year
5,303
In 2025*
246 ▼95%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 159,982 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Agnes by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1890s, when it ranked #54. The largest share of babies named Agnes, 55.4%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#727,242
1890s#5414,468
1900s#5717,694
1910s#8239,354
1920s#11839,362
1930s#24318,111
1940s#4069,543
1950s#6785,602
1960s#1,0482,714
1970s#2,068913
1980s#2,633744
1990s#3,665626
2000s#4,565635
2010s#2,5121,638
2020s#2,0751,336
Before 190114.8%
Greatest Generation 1901–2755.4%
Silent Generation 1928–4518.9%
Baby boom 1946–646.7%
Generation X 1965–801.2%
Millennials 1981–960.7%
Generation Z 1997–120.7%
2013 and later1.7%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Agnes is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Agnes has been most common in North Dakota (3.9×), South Dakota (2.4×), and Pennsylvania (2.2×), and least common in Utah (0.15×).

116,345 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Spelled almost the same

3 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Agnes, most common first.

Also a last name

As a last name, Agnes ranks #30,920 of 156,621, with 805 people. See Agnes as a last name

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