How rare is the name Howard?

134,907 people in the United States have the first name Howard, about 1 in 2,239. It ranks #421 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

HOWARD

#421

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
134,907
About
1 in 2,239
This common or more
55.3%
Who bears it

Of the 134,907 people named Howard, 77.9% reported their origin as White, 14.1% as Black and 3.4% as Asian or Pacific Islander. Virtually all are male (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Howard peaked in 1921, when 7,749 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1921
Births that year
7,749
In 2025*
226 ▼97%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 348,342 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.

Howard by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1920s, when it ranked #59. The largest share of babies named Howard, 32.2%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#1144,362
1890s#1175,973
1900s#1188,061
1910s#6446,823
1920s#5970,793
1930s#7651,788
1940s#10653,682
1950s#17548,009
1960s#25628,843
1970s#38513,102
1980s#6507,108
1990s#1,1163,915
2000s#1,7562,477
2010s#2,1232,111
2020s#2,1241,295
Before 19013.2%
Greatest Generation 1901–2732.2%
Silent Generation 1928–4527.4%
Baby boom 1946–6425.1%
Generation X 1965–807.4%
Millennials 1981–962.6%
Generation Z 1997–121.2%
2013 and later0.8%

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 Howard is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Howard has been most common in West Virginia (2.2×), Vermont (2.1×), and Delaware (1.7×), and least common in Nevada (0.13×).

325,581 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 Howard

#419 Yolanda · 135,779#420 Marvin · 135,343#422 Cole · 134,580#423 Max · 133,914

Also a last name

As a last name, Howard ranks #81 of 156,621, with 253,434 people. See Howard as a last name

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