How rare is the name Franklin?

78,051 people in the United States have the first name Franklin, about 1 in 3,870. It ranks #679 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

FRANKLIN

#679

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
78,051
About
1 in 3,870
This common or more
63.9%
Who bears it

Of the 78,051 people named Franklin, 57.8% reported their origin as White, 20.2% as Hispanic or Latino and 14.4% as Black. Virtually all are male (99.7%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Franklin peaked in 1933, when 5,387 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1933
Births that year
5,387
In 2025*
909 ▼83%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 142,506 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.

Franklin by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1930s, when it ranked #168. The largest share of babies named Franklin, 29.1%, were born between 1928 and 1945, the Silent Generation's birth years.

1880s#2981,098
1890s#435986
1900s#4681,196
1910s#3128,032
1920s#30612,596
1930s#16826,519
1940s#26919,404
1950s#36417,091
1960s#42113,990
1970s#5099,424
1980s#5748,295
1990s#7307,146
2000s#1,0065,492
2010s#9706,353
2020s#7874,884
Before 19011.6%
Greatest Generation 1901–2713.7%
Silent Generation 1928–4529.1%
Baby boom 1946–6422.1%
Generation X 1965–8011.7%
Millennials 1981–968.9%
Generation Z 1997–126.2%
2013 and later6.8%

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 Franklin is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Franklin has been most common in West Virginia (3.4×), South Carolina (2.5×), and Virginia (1.9×), and least common in Rhode Island (0.21×).

135,341 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.

Either side of Franklin

#677 Felicia · 78,101#678 Johnathan · 78,090#680 Bill · 77,823#681 Miles · 77,427

Spelled almost the same

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

#1,043 Frankie · 40,157#4,342 Franklyn · 4,343#11,104 Franki · 1,172#35,667 Frankin · 225#43,336 Francklin · 163

Also a last name

As a last name, Franklin ranks #264 of 156,621, with 115,358 people. See Franklin as a last name

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