Ames
Ames was given to 92 boys in 2025, #1,754 among boys’ names; 1,865 Americans have been recorded with it since 1913 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,550 Americans named Ames and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (83% of everyone recorded); the median is 10 years old and half are between 5 and 40.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ames by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ames mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Ames is “a diminutive of the female given name Amy.”
From the clipping of Amy + -s (hypocoristic suffix).
/eɪmz/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ames?
#1,754 among boys’ names, 2025
Ames rose from #2,458 in 2015 to #1,754 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 26.6 to 53.9 per million.
93 babies in 2023, the peak
Ames peaked in 2023, when 93 boys were given it, #1,755 among boys’ names. The 92 births of 2025 are 99% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 92 | #1,754 | 53.9 |
| 2024 | 76 | #2,013 | 44.1 |
| 2023 | 93 | #1,755 | 54.4 |
| 2022 | 71 | #2,097 | 40.7 |
| 2021 | 89 | #1,785 | 50.9 |
| 2020 | 92 | #1,695 | 53.3 |
| 2019 | 69 | #2,080 | 38.5 |
| 2018 | 70 | #2,047 | 38.5 |
| 2017 | 69 | #2,033 | 37.3 |
| 2016 | 87 | #1,763 | 45.8 |
Every recorded year (98)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 51 | #2,458 | 26.6 |
| 2014 | 42 | #2,804 | 21.9 |
| 2013 | 38 | #2,954 | 20.1 |
| 2012 | 56 | #2,294 | 29.5 |
| 2011 | 31 | #3,436 | 16.3 |
| 2010 | 13 | #6,361 | 6.8 |
| 2009 | 9 | #8,331 | 4.5 |
| 2008 | 15 | #5,773 | 7.4 |
| 2007 | 6 | #10,993 | 2.9 |
| 2006 | 6 | #10,741 | 2.9 |
| 2004 | 7 | #8,962 | 3.5 |
| 2000 | 11 | #5,930 | 5.6 |
| 1993 | 5 | #8,739 | 2.5 |
| 1990 | 6 | #7,207 | 2.9 |
| 1989 | 16 | #3,451 | 8.0 |
| 1988 | 22 | #2,598 | 11.5 |
| 1987 | 14 | #3,339 | 7.5 |
| 1986 | 18 | #2,780 | 9.8 |
| 1985 | 12 | #3,608 | 6.5 |
| 1984 | 18 | #2,613 | 10.0 |
| 1983 | 22 | #2,272 | 12.3 |
| 1982 | 17 | #2,711 | 9.4 |
| 1981 | 18 | #2,571 | 10.0 |
| 1980 | 16 | #2,833 | 9.0 |
| 1979 | 10 | #3,814 | 5.8 |
| 1978 | 8 | #4,161 | 4.9 |
| 1977 | 14 | #2,914 | 8.5 |
| 1976 | 12 | #3,100 | 7.6 |
| 1975 | 14 | #2,753 | 9.0 |
| 1974 | 8 | #3,848 | 5.1 |
| 1973 | 7 | #4,070 | 4.5 |
| 1972 | 12 | #2,823 | 7.4 |
| 1971 | 11 | #2,973 | 6.2 |
| 1970 | 14 | #2,510 | 7.5 |
| 1969 | 16 | #2,130 | 8.9 |
| 1968 | 12 | #2,446 | 6.9 |
| 1967 | 11 | #2,474 | 6.3 |
| 1966 | 10 | #2,628 | 5.6 |
| 1965 | 8 | #2,989 | 4.3 |
| 1964 | 8 | #3,054 | 4.0 |
| 1963 | 6 | #3,659 | 3.0 |
| 1962 | 9 | #2,849 | 4.4 |
| 1961 | 10 | #2,709 | 4.7 |
| 1960 | 8 | #3,085 | 3.8 |
| 1959 | 9 | #2,828 | 4.2 |
| 1958 | 18 | #1,896 | 8.5 |
| 1957 | 9 | #2,828 | 4.2 |
| 1956 | 14 | #2,168 | 6.6 |
| 1955 | 9 | #2,771 | 4.4 |
| 1954 | 7 | #3,182 | 3.4 |
| 1953 | 10 | #2,539 | 5.1 |
| 1952 | 9 | #2,681 | 4.6 |
| 1951 | 11 | #2,372 | 5.8 |
| 1950 | 6 | #3,334 | 3.4 |
| 1949 | 7 | #3,030 | 3.9 |
| 1948 | 8 | #2,791 | 4.6 |
| 1947 | 6 | #3,376 | 3.3 |
| 1946 | 6 | #3,189 | 3.7 |
| 1945 | 5 | #3,346 | 3.7 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,635 | 5.9 |
| 1942 | 5 | #3,581 | 3.6 |
| 1941 | 6 | #3,148 | 4.9 |
| 1940 | 11 | #2,186 | 9.5 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,057 | 10.8 |
| 1938 | 7 | #2,878 | 6.3 |
| 1937 | 7 | #2,913 | 6.6 |
| 1935 | 9 | #2,537 | 8.6 |
| 1934 | 6 | #3,299 | 5.8 |
| 1933 | 7 | #3,014 | 7.1 |
| 1932 | 11 | #2,322 | 10.5 |
| 1931 | 9 | #2,660 | 8.7 |
| 1930 | 12 | #2,297 | 10.9 |
| 1929 | 10 | #2,601 | 9.3 |
| 1928 | 10 | #2,664 | 9.0 |
| 1927 | 6 | #3,792 | 5.3 |
| 1926 | 5 | #4,224 | 4.5 |
| 1924 | 7 | #3,516 | 6.2 |
| 1923 | 8 | #3,188 | 7.3 |
| 1922 | 8 | #3,259 | 7.4 |
| 1921 | 10 | #2,810 | 9.1 |
| 1920 | 8 | #3,219 | 7.5 |
| 1919 | 7 | #3,408 | 7.1 |
| 1918 | 8 | #3,109 | 7.9 |
| 1917 | 7 | #3,227 | 7.6 |
| 1916 | 11 | #2,394 | 12.4 |
| 1915 | 9 | #2,632 | 10.6 |
| 1914 | 5 | #3,274 | 7.6 |
| 1913 | 7 | #2,281 | 13.7 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Ames a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ames has been given almost only to boys: 10 girls in 98 years of records.
Girls and boys named Ames: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ames, and how old are they?
1,550 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 83% of the 1,865 Americans ever recorded as Ames. The median Ames alive today is 10 years old; half are between 5 and 40.
The 2020 Census counted 929 people named Ames (97 women and girls, 832 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,104 born in the U.S. The Census count is 16% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 22 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 114 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 162 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 158 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 152 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 942 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 42,055 babies since 1880, Ames is the third most given (4.4% of them). In 2025 it was given to 92 of their 966 babies (9.5%), again the third most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ames
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Ames and names like it
- Compare Ames and AmosBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sAmes peaked in 2023.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ames since 1910.
- The top names of 2023The year the most babies were named Ames.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Ames alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with AMost given first.