How rare is the name Ned?

7,643 people in the United States have the first name Ned, about 1 in 39,517. It ranks #2,949 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census, tied with 1 other.

first name

NED

#2,949

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
7,643
About
1 in 39,517
This common or more
81.3%
Who bears it

Of the 7,643 people named Ned, 82% reported their origin as White, 10.3% as Black and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are male (99.7%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Ned peaked in 1939, when 319 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1939
Births that year
319
In 2025*
8 ▼97%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 17,297 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.

Ned by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1880s, when it ranked #695. The largest share of babies named Ned, 28.5%, were born between 1928 and 1945, the Silent Generation's birth years.

1880s#695285
1890s#773350
1900s#919367
1910s#7441,877
1920s#7402,850
1930s#7252,715
1940s#8232,786
1950s#1,0082,596
1960s#1,4231,533
1970s#2,253777
1980s#3,371513
1990s#6,315281
2000s#10,997178
2010s#14,684123
2020s#15,22366
Before 19013.9%
Greatest Generation 1901–2725.8%
Silent Generation 1928–4528.5%
Baby boom 1946–6427.1%
Generation X 1965–808.3%
Millennials 1981–963.8%
Generation Z 1997–121.6%
2013 and later0.9%

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 Ned is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Ned has been most common in Utah (3.9×), South Carolina (2.8×), and North Carolina (2.8×), and least common in Minnesota (0.17×).

11,908 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.

Exactly as common as Ned

1 other first name also has 7,643 people.

Spelled almost the same

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

Also a last name

As a last name, Ned ranks #22,732 of 156,621, with 1,158 people. See Ned as a last name

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