Booker
Booker was given to 180 boys in 2025, #1,160 among boys’ names; 12,235 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,660 Americans named Booker and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (38% of everyone recorded); the median is 52 years old and half are between 9 and 73.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Booker by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Booker?
#1,160 among boys’ names, 2025
Booker rose from #2,386 in 2015 to #1,160 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.03 to 0.11 per 1,000.
294 babies in 1916, the peak
Booker peaked in 1916, when 294 boys were given it, #303 among boys’ names. The 180 births of 2025 are 61% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 180 | #1,160 | 0.11 |
| 2024 | 152 | #1,290 | 0.09 |
| 2023 | 179 | #1,161 | 0.10 |
| 2022 | 171 | #1,186 | 0.10 |
| 2021 | 160 | #1,207 | 0.09 |
| 2020 | 96 | #1,659 | 0.06 |
| 2019 | 92 | #1,714 | 0.05 |
| 2018 | 82 | #1,837 | 0.05 |
| 2017 | 84 | #1,804 | 0.05 |
| 2016 | 59 | #2,257 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (137)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 54 | #2,386 | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 47 | #2,583 | 0.02 |
| 2013 | 43 | #2,717 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 39 | #2,959 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 22 | #4,379 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 30 | #3,541 | 0.02 |
| 2009 | 24 | #4,174 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 21 | #4,555 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 21 | #4,515 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 23 | #4,111 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 19 | #4,487 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 14 | #5,523 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 18 | #4,436 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 13 | #5,425 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 17 | #4,498 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 18 | #4,219 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 21 | #3,593 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 14 | #4,668 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 20 | #3,458 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 21 | #3,302 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 18 | #3,562 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 17 | #3,759 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 24 | #2,871 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 23 | #2,908 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 27 | #2,545 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 32 | #2,214 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 23 | #2,695 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 30 | #2,086 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 31 | #1,976 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 20 | #2,606 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 32 | #1,836 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 25 | #2,103 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 24 | #2,145 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 30 | #1,856 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 36 | #1,634 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 44 | #1,434 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 45 | #1,392 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 32 | #1,692 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 34 | #1,610 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 39 | #1,427 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 39 | #1,412 | 0.02 |
| 1974 | 39 | #1,372 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 42 | #1,271 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 41 | #1,307 | 0.03 |
| 1971 | 51 | #1,151 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 63 | #1,024 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 45 | #1,171 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 48 | #1,070 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 52 | #1,004 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 53 | #998 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 65 | #921 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 77 | #868 | 0.04 |
| 1963 | 62 | #955 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 78 | #855 | 0.04 |
| 1961 | 69 | #916 | 0.03 |
| 1960 | 65 | #940 | 0.03 |
| 1959 | 89 | #808 | 0.04 |
| 1958 | 97 | #746 | 0.05 |
| 1957 | 110 | #710 | 0.05 |
| 1956 | 115 | #687 | 0.05 |
| 1955 | 125 | #655 | 0.06 |
| 1954 | 93 | #741 | 0.05 |
| 1953 | 140 | #612 | 0.07 |
| 1952 | 138 | #598 | 0.07 |
| 1951 | 135 | #597 | 0.07 |
| 1950 | 145 | #560 | 0.08 |
| 1949 | 167 | #516 | 0.09 |
| 1948 | 147 | #551 | 0.08 |
| 1947 | 160 | #532 | 0.09 |
| 1946 | 156 | #513 | 0.10 |
| 1945 | 135 | #517 | 0.10 |
| 1944 | 153 | #492 | 0.11 |
| 1943 | 168 | #478 | 0.12 |
| 1942 | 161 | #482 | 0.12 |
| 1941 | 145 | #489 | 0.12 |
| 1940 | 156 | #462 | 0.13 |
| 1939 | 148 | #471 | 0.13 |
| 1938 | 167 | #447 | 0.15 |
| 1937 | 135 | #493 | 0.13 |
| 1936 | 149 | #463 | 0.14 |
| 1935 | 130 | #502 | 0.12 |
| 1934 | 164 | #441 | 0.16 |
| 1933 | 147 | #454 | 0.15 |
| 1932 | 153 | #465 | 0.15 |
| 1931 | 148 | #463 | 0.14 |
| 1930 | 201 | #415 | 0.18 |
| 1929 | 155 | #473 | 0.14 |
| 1928 | 169 | #468 | 0.15 |
| 1927 | 177 | #461 | 0.16 |
| 1926 | 164 | #471 | 0.15 |
| 1925 | 165 | #468 | 0.15 |
| 1924 | 181 | #455 | 0.16 |
| 1923 | 185 | #449 | 0.17 |
| 1922 | 198 | #429 | 0.18 |
| 1921 | 179 | #458 | 0.16 |
| 1920 | 196 | #427 | 0.18 |
| 1919 | 215 | #398 | 0.22 |
| 1918 | 238 | #389 | 0.23 |
| 1917 | 233 | #364 | 0.25 |
| 1916 | 294 | #303 | 0.33 |
| 1915 | 272 | #312 | 0.32 |
| 1914 | 218 | #306 | 0.33 |
| 1913 | 151 | #331 | 0.29 |
| 1912 | 161 | #282 | 0.37 |
| 1911 | 110 | #241 | 0.49 |
| 1910 | 159 | #177 | 0.82 |
| 1909 | 101 | #213 | 0.62 |
| 1908 | 111 | #190 | 0.72 |
| 1907 | 100 | #196 | 0.68 |
| 1906 | 95 | #190 | 0.71 |
| 1905 | 93 | #191 | 0.70 |
| 1904 | 93 | #191 | 0.73 |
| 1903 | 80 | #197 | 0.67 |
| 1902 | 61 | #232 | 0.50 |
| 1901 | 29 | #336 | 0.27 |
| 1900 | 46 | #307 | 0.31 |
| 1899 | 20 | #415 | 0.19 |
| 1898 | 16 | #524 | 0.13 |
| 1897 | 15 | #517 | 0.13 |
| 1896 | 8 | #831 | 0.07 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,097 | 0.04 |
| 1894 | 5 | #1,096 | 0.04 |
| 1892 | 5 | #1,083 | 0.04 |
| 1890 | 5 | #1,021 | 0.05 |
| 1889 | 5 | #987 | 0.05 |
| 1884 | 6 | #862 | 0.05 |
| 1882 | 5 | #956 | 0.04 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Booker a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Booker has been given almost only to boys: 5 girls in 137 years of records.
Girls and boys named Booker: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Booker, and how old are they?
4,660 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 38% of the 12,235 Americans ever recorded as Booker. The median Booker alive today is 52 years old; half are between 9 and 73.
The 2020 Census counted 3,415 people named Booker (41 women and girls, 3,374 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,458 born in the U.S. The Census count is 23% 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 | 528 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,370 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 642 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 392 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 329 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,390 |
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).
Where are babies named Booker born?
The states with the most babies named Booker are Mississippi, Alabama and Texas, with 39% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Mississippi and Alabama are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 1,356 | not ranked | 6.7× |
| Alabama | 962 | #691 | 3.5× |
| Texas | 854 | #1,665 | 1.2× |
| Georgia | 751 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| South Carolina | 669 | not ranked | 3.1× |
| North Carolina | 559 | #1,161 | 1.5× |
| Arkansas | 529 | not ranked | 3.1× |
| Louisiana | 466 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Florida | 315 | #1,368 | 1.1× |
| Tennessee | 314 | #1,055 | 1.1× |
Where Booker is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Booker is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1910 it was given 6.7 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 Booker 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 Booker
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 Booker and names like it
- Compare Booker and TaftBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sBooker peaked in 1916.
- Mississippi’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Booker since 1910.
- The top names of 1916The year the most babies were named Booker.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Booker alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with BMost given first.