Ballard
Ballard was given to 6 boys in 2025, #10,850 among boys’ names; 1,159 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ballard by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Ballard?
#10,850 among boys’ names, 2025
Ballard entered the boys’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #10,850 in 2025.
40 babies in 1922, the peak
Ballard peaked in 1922, when 40 boys were given it, #1,120 among boys’ names. The 6 births of 2025 are 15% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | #10,850 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 6 | #9,361 | under 0.01 |
| 1997 | 7 | #7,351 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 6 | #5,990 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 7 | #4,468 | under 0.01 |
| 1972 | 5 | #5,050 | under 0.01 |
| 1971 | 7 | #3,995 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 5 | #4,780 | under 0.01 |
| 1969 | 5 | #4,459 | under 0.01 |
| 1967 | 6 | #3,590 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (84)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | 6 | #3,560 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 9 | #2,795 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 5 | #4,085 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 5 | #4,081 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 12 | #2,378 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 5 | #4,106 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 16 | #2,047 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 11 | #2,541 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 9 | #2,837 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 15 | #2,101 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 15 | #2,095 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 8 | #2,978 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 9 | #2,756 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 10 | #2,543 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 17 | #1,858 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 21 | #1,645 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 14 | #2,031 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 18 | #1,757 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 14 | #2,030 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 17 | #1,852 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 16 | #1,819 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 16 | #1,700 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 16 | #1,740 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 10 | #2,416 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 17 | #1,736 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 11 | #2,212 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 22 | #1,436 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,298 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 17 | #1,692 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 25 | #1,345 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 22 | #1,421 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 19 | #1,589 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 11 | #2,274 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 23 | #1,407 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 26 | #1,357 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 16 | #1,851 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 25 | #1,464 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 24 | #1,485 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 32 | #1,272 | 0.03 |
| 1927 | 24 | #1,562 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 21 | #1,665 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 13 | #2,321 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 17 | #1,966 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 23 | #1,596 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 40 | #1,120 | 0.04 |
| 1921 | 37 | #1,179 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 26 | #1,460 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 23 | #1,533 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 33 | #1,213 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 23 | #1,483 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 33 | #1,139 | 0.04 |
| 1915 | 29 | #1,217 | 0.03 |
| 1914 | 17 | #1,497 | 0.03 |
| 1913 | 19 | #1,173 | 0.04 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,294 | 0.01 |
| 1910 | 10 | #1,046 | 0.05 |
| 1907 | 5 | #1,358 | 0.03 |
| 1903 | 5 | #1,143 | 0.04 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,156 | 0.04 |
| 1901 | 7 | #861 | 0.07 |
| 1900 | 5 | #1,326 | 0.03 |
| 1899 | 6 | #940 | 0.06 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,114 | 0.04 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,092 | 0.04 |
| 1892 | 8 | #800 | 0.07 |
| 1889 | 12 | #552 | 0.11 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,044 | 0.04 |
| 1887 | 5 | #939 | 0.05 |
| 1886 | 6 | #852 | 0.05 |
| 1885 | 5 | #947 | 0.05 |
| 1883 | 7 | #725 | 0.07 |
| 1882 | 7 | #762 | 0.06 |
| 1881 | 7 | #713 | 0.07 |
| 1880 | 6 | #826 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Ballard a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ballard has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 84 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Ballard: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ballard, and how old are they?
An estimated 276 Americans named Ballard and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (24% of everyone recorded); the median is 71 years old and half are between 62 and 79. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 469 people named Ballard (24 women and girls, 445 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 350 born in the U.S. The Census count is 34% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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).
Where are babies named Ballard born?
The states with the most babies named Ballard are Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia, with 100% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Kentucky and Virginia and West Virginia are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | 262 | not ranked | 10.3× |
| Virginia | 70 | not ranked | 2.8× |
| West Virginia | 19 | not ranked | 1.1× |
Where Ballard is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ballard is most over-represented in Kentucky: since 1910 it was given 10.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Ballard with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ballard
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 Ballard and names like it
- Compare Ballard and DolphusBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sBallard peaked in 1922.
- Kentucky’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ballard since 1910.
- The top names of 1922The year the most babies were named Ballard.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Ballard alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with BMost given first.