Buford
Buford was given to 6 boys in 2025, #10,880 among boys’ names; 10,964 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,710 Americans named Buford and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (25% of everyone recorded); the median is 70 years old and half are between 57 and 80.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Buford by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Buford?
#10,880 among boys’ names, 2025
Buford entered the boys’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #10,880 in 2025.
334 babies in 1921, the peak
Buford peaked in 1921, when 334 boys were given it, #318 among boys’ names. The 6 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | #10,880 | under 0.01 |
| 2023 | 5 | #12,528 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 5 | #12,481 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 5 | #12,556 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 6 | #10,851 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 10 | #7,186 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 7 | #8,783 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 9 | #6,914 | under 0.01 |
| 1999 | 7 | #7,966 | under 0.01 |
| 1998 | 6 | #8,603 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (125)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 6 | #8,262 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 7 | #7,231 | under 0.01 |
| 1995 | 9 | #5,980 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 6 | #7,892 | under 0.01 |
| 1993 | 12 | #4,732 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 6 | #7,528 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 12 | #4,515 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 17 | #3,477 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 13 | #4,040 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 14 | #3,540 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 15 | #3,211 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 22 | #2,434 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 24 | #2,232 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 16 | #2,837 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 18 | #2,592 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 32 | #1,778 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 19 | #2,503 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 30 | #1,859 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 39 | #1,512 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 31 | #1,726 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 35 | #1,573 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 33 | #1,613 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 46 | #1,259 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 36 | #1,439 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 31 | #1,551 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 25 | #1,776 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 46 | #1,216 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 53 | #1,133 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 56 | #1,027 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 47 | #1,084 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 45 | #1,104 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 41 | #1,165 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 67 | #900 | 0.04 |
| 1964 | 62 | #967 | 0.03 |
| 1963 | 54 | #1,027 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 65 | #939 | 0.03 |
| 1961 | 80 | #854 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 70 | #904 | 0.03 |
| 1959 | 65 | #952 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 67 | #927 | 0.03 |
| 1957 | 79 | #844 | 0.04 |
| 1956 | 108 | #707 | 0.05 |
| 1955 | 93 | #755 | 0.05 |
| 1954 | 97 | #732 | 0.05 |
| 1953 | 108 | #686 | 0.05 |
| 1952 | 109 | #659 | 0.06 |
| 1951 | 107 | #674 | 0.06 |
| 1950 | 130 | #598 | 0.07 |
| 1949 | 148 | #550 | 0.08 |
| 1948 | 143 | #559 | 0.08 |
| 1947 | 166 | #526 | 0.09 |
| 1946 | 145 | #534 | 0.09 |
| 1945 | 129 | #525 | 0.10 |
| 1944 | 172 | #464 | 0.13 |
| 1943 | 198 | #451 | 0.14 |
| 1942 | 182 | #457 | 0.13 |
| 1941 | 183 | #432 | 0.15 |
| 1940 | 186 | #427 | 0.16 |
| 1939 | 164 | #446 | 0.15 |
| 1938 | 196 | #405 | 0.18 |
| 1937 | 193 | #406 | 0.18 |
| 1936 | 160 | #445 | 0.15 |
| 1935 | 174 | #424 | 0.17 |
| 1934 | 211 | #375 | 0.20 |
| 1933 | 169 | #418 | 0.17 |
| 1932 | 228 | #368 | 0.22 |
| 1931 | 200 | #399 | 0.19 |
| 1930 | 240 | #371 | 0.22 |
| 1929 | 230 | #379 | 0.21 |
| 1928 | 240 | #380 | 0.22 |
| 1927 | 242 | #377 | 0.21 |
| 1926 | 264 | #359 | 0.24 |
| 1925 | 283 | #347 | 0.25 |
| 1924 | 304 | #334 | 0.27 |
| 1923 | 279 | #352 | 0.25 |
| 1922 | 305 | #335 | 0.28 |
| 1921 | 334 | #318 | 0.30 |
| 1920 | 278 | #354 | 0.26 |
| 1919 | 258 | #357 | 0.26 |
| 1918 | 252 | #370 | 0.25 |
| 1917 | 249 | #353 | 0.27 |
| 1916 | 244 | #342 | 0.27 |
| 1915 | 209 | #372 | 0.25 |
| 1914 | 165 | #368 | 0.25 |
| 1913 | 136 | #357 | 0.27 |
| 1912 | 108 | #370 | 0.25 |
| 1911 | 53 | #390 | 0.23 |
| 1910 | 63 | #311 | 0.32 |
| 1909 | 36 | #408 | 0.22 |
| 1908 | 47 | #326 | 0.30 |
| 1907 | 25 | #466 | 0.17 |
| 1906 | 29 | #401 | 0.22 |
| 1905 | 37 | #329 | 0.28 |
| 1904 | 25 | #417 | 0.20 |
| 1903 | 24 | #403 | 0.20 |
| 1902 | 14 | #591 | 0.11 |
| 1901 | 17 | #471 | 0.16 |
| 1900 | 23 | #478 | 0.15 |
| 1899 | 18 | #440 | 0.17 |
| 1898 | 18 | #488 | 0.15 |
| 1897 | 15 | #518 | 0.13 |
| 1896 | 17 | #505 | 0.14 |
| 1895 | 20 | #439 | 0.17 |
| 1894 | 17 | #483 | 0.15 |
| 1893 | 12 | #575 | 0.11 |
| 1892 | 14 | #551 | 0.11 |
| 1891 | 12 | #526 | 0.12 |
| 1890 | 13 | #539 | 0.12 |
| 1888 | 13 | #558 | 0.11 |
| 1887 | 9 | #637 | 0.09 |
| 1886 | 7 | #773 | 0.06 |
| 1884 | 10 | #620 | 0.09 |
| 1883 | 10 | #603 | 0.10 |
| 1881 | 9 | #604 | 0.09 |
| 1880 | 11 | #575 | 0.10 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Buford a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 10,964 Americans recorded as Buford, 1% are girls and 99% boys. In 2025 it went to 6 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Girls and boys named Buford: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Buford, and how old are they?
2,710 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 25% of the 10,964 Americans ever recorded as Buford. The median Buford alive today is 70 years old; half are between 57 and 80.
The 2020 Census counted 3,011 people named Buford (18 women and girls, 2,993 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,496 born in the U.S. The Census count is 14% 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 | 623 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,200 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 579 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 229 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 55 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 16 |
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 Buford born?
The states with the most babies named Buford are Tennessee, Texas and Alabama, with 40% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Tennessee and Alabama are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tennessee | 1,449 | not ranked | 5.6× |
| Texas | 926 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Alabama | 899 | not ranked | 3.3× |
| Georgia | 838 | not ranked | 2.7× |
| Kentucky | 710 | not ranked | 2.8× |
| Virginia | 597 | not ranked | 2.4× |
| Mississippi | 538 | not ranked | 2.6× |
| Arkansas | 332 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Missouri | 325 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 305 | not ranked | 0.9× |
Where Buford is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Buford is most over-represented in Tennessee: since 1910 it was given 5.6 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 Buford with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 11,736 babies since 1880, Buford is the most given (93% of them).
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 Buford
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 Buford and names like it
- Compare Buford and BuffordBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sBuford peaked in 1921.
- Tennessee’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Buford since 1910.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Buford.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Buford alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with BMost given first.