How rare is the name Ward?

7,136 people in the United States have the first name Ward, about 1 in 42,325. It ranks #3,091 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census, tied with 1 other.

first name

WARD

#3,091

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
7,136
About
1 in 42,325
This common or more
81.6%
Who bears it

Of the 7,136 people named Ward, 89% reported their origin as White, 5.3% as Black and 2.5% as two or more races. 97.4% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Ward peaked in 1961, when 341 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1961
Births that year
341
In 2025*
58 ▼83%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 15,124 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.

Ward by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1880s, when it ranked #681. The largest share of babies named Ward, 28.1%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#681294
1890s#731378
1900s#914372
1910s#7661,780
1920s#7882,515
1930s#9191,697
1940s#1,0311,762
1950s#1,1662,013
1960s#1,1772,240
1970s#2,415689
1980s#4,360347
1990s#7,706215
2000s#11,918159
2010s#7,014362
2020s#5,628301
Before 19014.7%
Greatest Generation 1901–2728.1%
Silent Generation 1928–4519.9%
Baby boom 1946–6428.1%
Generation X 1965–8010.3%
Millennials 1981–963%
Generation Z 1997–121.9%
2013 and later4%

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 Ward is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Ward has been most common in Iowa (2.8×), Michigan (2.6×), and Minnesota (2.5×), and least common in Florida (0.29×).

8,734 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 Ward

1 other first name also has 7,136 people.

#3,091 Lars · 7,136

Either side of Ward

#3,090 Luella · 7,137#3,091 Lars · 7,136#3,093 Joellen · 7,130#3,094 Shae · 7,128

Spelled almost the same

One first name in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Ward, most common first.

#16,419 Warda · 687

Also a last name

As a last name, Ward ranks #79 of 156,621, with 255,767 people. See Ward as a last name

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