Grace — #40 US girls' name
529,733 babies named Grace in U.S. Social Security records since 1880, with the highest year being 2003. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.
More common than 99.8% of names given to girls today.
21% of everyone ever named Grace was born in this single decade.
12,781 babies were named Grace in 2003 — its busiest year on record.
What the Data Says About Grace
The Social Security Administration has registered 529,733 babies named Grace between 1880 and 2024, spanning 145 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a girl's name, Grace currently holds the #40 rank among girls for 2024. The name reached its historical peak in 2003, when 12,781 babies received it in a single year.
Decade-level aggregation shows that Grace performed strongest in the 2000s, accumulating 110,715 births during that ten-year window. Across the 15 decades of recorded activity, Grace shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in New York, which accounts for 44,632 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by California and Pennsylvania. In total, SSA state-level files list Grace in 51 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.
No etymological entry is currently available for Grace in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 529,733 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.
Grace at a glance
Top 100 girls' namePeak year
Current rank
Active since
Grace popularity over time — girls
Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2024–1880
- Peak year (2003)
- 12,781
- Annual births at peak — across 145 years of records
Currently a top-50 pick among girls.
529,733 total births across 145 years of SSA records. Peaked in 2003 with 12,781 births in a single year.
Grace popularity over time — boys
1,393 total births recorded since 1880 (Grace as boys' name)
Unisex use remains the minority pattern
The boys' variant of Grace accounts for 0% of total recorded use across both genders.
Grace by decade
Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance
- Peak decade
- 2000s
- 110,715 births that decade — 21% of Grace's all-time total
Grace decade highlights
- Peak decade 110,715 births
- Runner-up 73,033 births
- Modern era share 2010s + 2020s
- Decades tracked with recorded births
2000s was Grace's strongest decade
110,715 babies received the name during that ten-year window — about 21% of all-time use.
Grace by state
Where Grace concentrates geographically — total births since 1880
| Rank | State | Visual share | Births | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | New York | | 44,632 | 8.4% |
| #2 | California | | 35,924 | 6.8% |
| #3 | Pennsylvania | | 33,818 | 6.4% |
| #4 | Texas | | 24,109 | 4.6% |
| #5 | Illinois | | 23,964 | 4.5% |
| #6 | Ohio | | 21,416 | 4.0% |
| #7 | Michigan | | 18,105 | 3.4% |
| #8 | New Jersey | | 17,288 | 3.3% |
44,632 of 529,733 births nationwide. Compared to a flat distribution across 51 reporting states.
Top 5 states
- New York 8.4% of nationwide
- California 6.8% of nationwide
- Pennsylvania 6.4% of nationwide
- Texas 4.6% of nationwide
- Illinois 4.5% of nationwide
Recorded in 51 of 51 SSA jurisdictions
New York accounts for 8.4% of all recorded births nationwide — a relatively diffuse profile for this name.
Grace appears in 51 states. Explore state details →
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data Sources
Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).
Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1880–2024 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.
State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.