How rare is the name Wade?

50,704 people in the United States have the first name Wade, about 1 in 5,957. It ranks #893 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

WADE

#893

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
50,704
About
1 in 5,957
This common or more
68.4%
Who bears it

Of the 50,704 people named Wade, 85.3% reported their origin as White, 6.9% as Black and 3.4% as two or more races. Virtually all are male (99.7%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Wade peaked in 1970, when 1,430 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1970
Births that year
1,430
In 2025*
948 ▼34%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 76,666 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.

Wade by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1960s, when it ranked #450. The largest share of babies named Wade, 23%, were born between 1965 and 1980, Generation X's birth years.

1880s#496523
1890s#615530
1900s#714557
1910s#6542,336
1920s#6553,567
1930s#6703,094
1940s#6534,293
1950s#5428,542
1960s#45012,897
1970s#46810,482
1980s#6596,996
1990s#8285,987
2000s#1,1644,501
2010s#9486,506
2020s#6755,855
Before 19011.4%
Greatest Generation 1901–277.5%
Silent Generation 1928–458%
Baby boom 1946–6422.1%
Generation X 1965–8023%
Millennials 1981–9613.9%
Generation Z 1997–129.7%
2013 and later14.4%

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 Wade is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Wade has been most common in North Dakota (3.3×), Montana (3×), and South Dakota (2.9×), and least common in Vermont (0.26×).

71,419 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 Wade

#891 Rodolfo · 50,870#892 Esmeralda · 50,748#894 Tyrone · 50,642#895 Kirsten · 50,529

Spelled almost the same

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

#8,758 Wayde · 1,639#29,411 Wadie · 301#46,015 Wady · 146#46,195 Wadi · 145

Also a last name

As a last name, Wade ranks #331 of 156,621, with 93,102 people. See Wade as a last name

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