Cooper
Cooper was given to 7,472 boys in 2025, #27 among boys’ names; 126,484 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 124,000 Americans named Cooper and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 12 years old and half are between 6 and 18.
Cooper was given to 1,757 more boys in 2025 than in 2024, the #2 gain in babies among boys’ names.
Cooper came back: it left the boys’ top 1,000 after 1889 and returned in 1982.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cooper by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Cooper mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Cooper is “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
/ˈkupɚ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Cooper?
#27 among boys’ names, 2025
Cooper rose from #77 in 2015 to #27 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 2.8 to 4.4 per 1,000.
7,653 babies in 2025, the peak
Cooper peaked in 2025, when 7,653 babies were given it (7,472 boys, #27 among boys’ names). In 2024 it went to 5,715 boys.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7,472 | #27 | 4.4 |
| 2024 | 5,715 | #50 | 3.3 |
| 2023 | 5,445 | #52 | 3.2 |
| 2022 | 5,631 | #53 | 3.2 |
| 2021 | 4,673 | #68 | 2.7 |
| 2020 | 4,592 | #75 | 2.7 |
| 2019 | 4,557 | #80 | 2.5 |
| 2018 | 4,473 | #83 | 2.5 |
| 2017 | 4,618 | #88 | 2.5 |
| 2016 | 4,974 | #79 | 2.6 |
Every recorded year (128)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 5,272 | #77 | 2.8 |
| 2014 | 4,851 | #86 | 2.5 |
| 2013 | 4,898 | #84 | 2.6 |
| 2012 | 5,194 | #83 | 2.7 |
| 2011 | 5,176 | #82 | 2.7 |
| 2010 | 5,260 | #75 | 2.7 |
| 2009 | 5,072 | #84 | 2.6 |
| 2008 | 5,051 | #92 | 2.5 |
| 2007 | 4,622 | #96 | 2.2 |
| 2006 | 3,747 | #113 | 1.8 |
| 2005 | 3,393 | #120 | 1.7 |
| 2004 | 3,045 | #133 | 1.5 |
| 2003 | 2,368 | #167 | 1.2 |
| 2002 | 1,931 | #196 | 1.0 |
| 2001 | 1,804 | #202 | 0.93 |
| 2000 | 1,405 | #241 | 0.72 |
| 1999 | 1,190 | #261 | 0.62 |
| 1998 | 1,177 | #254 | 0.62 |
| 1997 | 839 | #315 | 0.45 |
| 1996 | 668 | #363 | 0.35 |
| 1995 | 632 | #376 | 0.33 |
| 1994 | 518 | #439 | 0.27 |
| 1993 | 426 | #491 | 0.22 |
| 1992 | 349 | #546 | 0.17 |
| 1991 | 267 | #623 | 0.13 |
| 1990 | 208 | #703 | 0.10 |
| 1989 | 174 | #746 | 0.09 |
| 1988 | 145 | #785 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 136 | #793 | 0.07 |
| 1986 | 105 | #886 | 0.06 |
| 1985 | 110 | #857 | 0.06 |
| 1984 | 92 | #918 | 0.05 |
| 1983 | 71 | #1,051 | 0.04 |
| 1982 | 83 | #991 | 0.05 |
| 1981 | 52 | #1,274 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 52 | #1,294 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 50 | #1,306 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 21 | #2,215 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 28 | #1,831 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 21 | #2,184 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 21 | #2,145 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 26 | #1,798 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 16 | #2,419 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 13 | #2,684 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 22 | #1,930 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 20 | #2,007 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 12 | #2,570 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 13 | #2,343 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 7 | #3,305 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 15 | #2,060 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 26 | #1,521 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 30 | #1,440 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 18 | #1,913 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 8 | #3,090 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 13 | #2,337 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 13 | #2,340 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 8 | #3,082 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 7 | #3,331 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 10 | #2,670 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 15 | #2,105 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 16 | #1,984 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 12 | #2,337 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 16 | #1,972 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 10 | #2,555 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 19 | #1,736 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 5 | #3,780 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 9 | #2,647 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 10 | #2,479 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 14 | #2,094 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 19 | #1,646 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 14 | #1,866 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 10 | #2,336 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 8 | #2,773 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 12 | #2,167 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 12 | #2,107 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 9 | #2,513 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 13 | #1,975 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 20 | #1,529 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,522 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 18 | #1,599 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 16 | #1,778 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 11 | #2,295 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 10 | #2,399 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 11 | #2,348 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 11 | #2,349 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 16 | #1,909 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 22 | #1,572 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 9 | #2,891 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 16 | #2,059 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 19 | #1,803 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 17 | #1,947 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 16 | #2,064 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 16 | #2,038 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 19 | #1,837 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 18 | #1,922 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 20 | #1,767 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 23 | #1,540 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 25 | #1,454 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 15 | #2,003 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 20 | #1,601 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 18 | #1,670 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 10 | #2,135 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 12 | #1,598 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 20 | #1,032 | 0.05 |
| 1911 | 10 | #1,132 | 0.04 |
| 1910 | 10 | #1,057 | 0.05 |
| 1909 | 9 | #1,035 | 0.05 |
| 1905 | 5 | #1,273 | 0.04 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,196 | 0.04 |
| 1898 | 6 | #1,027 | 0.05 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,129 | 0.04 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,115 | 0.04 |
| 1894 | 5 | #1,116 | 0.04 |
| 1889 | 5 | #999 | 0.05 |
| 1887 | 5 | #959 | 0.05 |
| 1886 | 6 | #866 | 0.05 |
| 1885 | 8 | #714 | 0.07 |
| 1882 | 6 | #859 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Cooper a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 126,484 Americans recorded as Cooper, 2% are girls and 98% boys. In 2025 it went to 181 girls and 7,472 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Cooper: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cooper, and how old are they?
124,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 126,484 Americans ever recorded as Cooper. The median Cooper alive today is 12 years old; half are between 6 and 18.
The 2020 Census counted 88,776 people named Cooper (1,945 women and girls, 86,831 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 91,758 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 42 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 168 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 324 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,990 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 51,600 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 68,300 |
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 Cooper born?
The states with the most babies named Cooper are Texas, Pennsylvania and California, with 19% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 589 | #65 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 408 | #8 | 0.9× |
| California | 407 | #105 | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 361 | #11 | 1.2× |
| Florida | 348 | #56 | 0.7× |
| New York | 317 | #51 | 0.5× |
| Illinois | 259 | #26 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 245 | #34 | 1.0× |
| Tennessee | 229 | #17 | 1.3× |
| Georgia | 227 | #30 | 0.9× |
Where Cooper is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Cooper is most over-represented in Kansas: since 1910 it was given 1.8 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 Cooper 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 131,725 babies since 1880, Cooper is the most given (96% of them). In 2025 it was given to 7,653 of their 7,953 babies (96%), again the 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 Cooper
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 Cooper and names like it
- Compare Cooper and KooperBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sCooper peaked in 2025.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cooper since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Cooper: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Cooper.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Cooper alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with CMost given first.