December
December was given to 21 girls in 2025, #5,767 among girls’ names; 1,619 Americans have been recorded with it since 1960 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,580 Americans named December and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 24 years old and half are between 12 and 38.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of December by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does December mean?
Wiktionary, English section
December is “a female given name transferred from the month name [in turn from English].” Its etymology gives the senses “tenth month” (december) and “ten” (decem).
From Middle English December, Decembre, from Old French decembre, from Latin december (“tenth month”), from Latin decem (“ten”); + Latin -ber, from -bris, an adjectival suffix; December was the tenth month in the Roman calendar.
/dɪˈsɛm.bɚ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is December?
#5,767 among girls’ names, 2025
December fell from #3,786 in 2015 to #5,767 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 22.4 to 13.1 per million.
46 babies in 2012, the peak
December peaked in 2012, when 46 girls were given it, #3,481 among girls’ names. The 21 births of 2025 are 46% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 21 | #5,767 | 13.1 |
| 2024 | 25 | #5,188 | 15.4 |
| 2023 | 32 | #4,382 | 19.9 |
| 2022 | 33 | #4,310 | 20.1 |
| 2021 | 37 | #3,948 | 22.5 |
| 2020 | 35 | #4,031 | 21.7 |
| 2019 | 30 | #4,572 | 17.9 |
| 2018 | 34 | #4,172 | 20.0 |
| 2017 | 34 | #4,240 | 19.7 |
| 2016 | 32 | #4,448 | 18.1 |
Every recorded year (64)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 40 | #3,786 | 22.4 |
| 2014 | 43 | #3,601 | 24.1 |
| 2013 | 33 | #4,351 | 18.8 |
| 2012 | 46 | #3,481 | 26.1 |
| 2011 | 34 | #4,271 | 19.3 |
| 2010 | 31 | #4,637 | 17.4 |
| 2009 | 45 | #3,578 | 24.5 |
| 2008 | 36 | #4,290 | 19.0 |
| 2007 | 32 | #4,589 | 16.6 |
| 2006 | 29 | #4,855 | 15.3 |
| 2005 | 31 | #4,396 | 16.8 |
| 2004 | 35 | #4,012 | 19.1 |
| 2003 | 30 | #4,331 | 16.4 |
| 2002 | 27 | #4,525 | 15.0 |
| 2001 | 28 | #4,345 | 15.6 |
| 2000 | 27 | #4,436 | 14.9 |
| 1999 | 32 | #3,730 | 18.0 |
| 1998 | 34 | #3,507 | 19.2 |
| 1997 | 42 | #2,889 | 24.1 |
| 1996 | 33 | #3,442 | 18.8 |
| 1995 | 40 | #2,932 | 22.7 |
| 1994 | 25 | #4,144 | 14.0 |
| 1993 | 24 | #4,283 | 13.3 |
| 1992 | 25 | #4,111 | 13.6 |
| 1991 | 24 | #4,230 | 12.8 |
| 1990 | 20 | #4,731 | 10.5 |
| 1989 | 26 | #3,803 | 14.1 |
| 1988 | 24 | #3,816 | 13.5 |
| 1987 | 18 | #4,507 | 10.4 |
| 1986 | 34 | #2,791 | 19.8 |
| 1985 | 16 | #4,676 | 9.3 |
| 1984 | 22 | #3,632 | 13.1 |
| 1983 | 17 | #4,321 | 10.2 |
| 1982 | 17 | #4,384 | 10.0 |
| 1981 | 25 | #3,361 | 15.0 |
| 1980 | 26 | #3,238 | 15.7 |
| 1979 | 32 | #2,736 | 19.9 |
| 1978 | 26 | #3,023 | 17.0 |
| 1977 | 24 | #3,192 | 15.7 |
| 1976 | 20 | #3,429 | 13.7 |
| 1975 | 19 | #3,531 | 13.0 |
| 1974 | 17 | #3,730 | 11.6 |
| 1973 | 10 | #5,261 | 6.9 |
| 1972 | 7 | #6,711 | 4.6 |
| 1970 | 5 | #8,261 | 2.9 |
| 1969 | 5 | #7,722 | 3.0 |
| 1968 | 8 | #5,244 | 4.9 |
| 1967 | 6 | #6,191 | 3.6 |
| 1966 | 7 | #5,392 | 4.1 |
| 1965 | 8 | #4,931 | 4.5 |
| 1964 | 11 | #4,149 | 5.8 |
| 1963 | 8 | #4,980 | 4.2 |
| 1961 | 6 | #5,986 | 3.0 |
| 1960 | 5 | #6,568 | 2.5 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is December a boy’s or a girl’s name?
December has been given almost only to girls: 11 boys in 64 years of records.
Girls and boys named December: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named December, and how old are they?
1,580 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 1,619 Americans ever recorded as December. The median December alive today is 24 years old; half are between 12 and 38.
The 2020 Census counted 1,315 people named December (1,265 women and girls, 50 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,413 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 26 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 207 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 380 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 533 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 437 |
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 that rose and fell in the same decades as December
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 December and names like it
- Compare December and VaniaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sDecember peaked in 2012.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named December since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for December: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2012The year the most babies were named December.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named December alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with DMost given first.