Knox
Knox was given to 1,836 boys in 2025, #196 among boys’ names; 24,382 Americans have been recorded with it since 1881 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 23,700 Americans named Knox and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 7 years old and half are between 4 and 11.
Knox came back: it left the boys’ top 1,000 after 1888 and returned in 2009.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Knox by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Knox mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Knox is “a male given name from the surname.” Its etymology gives the sense “round hill” (cnoc).
Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic cnoc (“round hill”).
/nɑks/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Knox?
#196 among boys’ names, 2025
Knox rose from #258 in 2015 to #196 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.73 to 1.1 per 1,000.
1,931 babies in 2022, the peak
Knox peaked in 2022, when 1,931 babies were given it (1,902 boys, #199 among boys’ names). The 1,849 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 96% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,836 | #196 | 1.1 |
| 2024 | 1,706 | #209 | 1.0 |
| 2023 | 1,783 | #208 | 1.0 |
| 2022 | 1,902 | #199 | 1.1 |
| 2021 | 1,737 | #220 | 1.0 |
| 2020 | 1,530 | #238 | 0.89 |
| 2019 | 1,563 | #241 | 0.87 |
| 2018 | 1,707 | #219 | 0.94 |
| 2017 | 1,640 | #233 | 0.89 |
| 2016 | 1,539 | #245 | 0.81 |
Every recorded year (103)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,403 | #258 | 0.73 |
| 2014 | 1,244 | #286 | 0.65 |
| 2013 | 928 | #344 | 0.49 |
| 2012 | 822 | #368 | 0.43 |
| 2011 | 630 | #434 | 0.33 |
| 2010 | 579 | #459 | 0.30 |
| 2009 | 341 | #704 | 0.17 |
| 2008 | 93 | #1,661 | 0.05 |
| 2007 | 61 | #2,201 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 60 | #2,162 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 48 | #2,411 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 50 | #2,293 | 0.03 |
| 2003 | 33 | #2,964 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 25 | #3,510 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 20 | #4,045 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 22 | #3,706 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 21 | #3,647 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 24 | #3,243 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 17 | #3,971 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 17 | #3,931 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 11 | #5,347 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 6 | #8,323 | under 0.01 |
| 1993 | 9 | #6,007 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 9 | #5,911 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 6 | #7,803 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 7 | #6,835 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 6 | #7,473 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 5 | #7,954 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 6 | #6,355 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 8 | #4,945 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 5 | #6,908 | under 0.01 |
| 1973 | 5 | #5,508 | under 0.01 |
| 1971 | 7 | #4,178 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 8 | #3,687 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 7 | #3,393 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 5 | #4,212 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 5 | #4,348 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 7 | #3,505 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 7 | #3,482 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 10 | #2,806 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 8 | #3,155 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 10 | #2,732 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 6 | #3,782 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 8 | #3,098 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 12 | #2,377 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 14 | #2,149 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 9 | #2,786 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 15 | #2,013 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 10 | #2,506 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 12 | #2,281 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 5 | #3,951 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 10 | #2,582 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 7 | #3,043 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 9 | #2,489 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 9 | #2,554 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 14 | #2,034 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 15 | #1,912 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 15 | #1,860 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 15 | #1,852 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 6 | #3,295 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 6 | #3,360 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,588 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 9 | #2,538 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 9 | #2,627 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 14 | #1,975 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 11 | #2,294 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 7 | #3,234 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 11 | #2,397 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,241 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 19 | #1,761 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 16 | #2,009 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 15 | #2,156 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 16 | #2,032 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 11 | #2,675 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 16 | #2,094 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 21 | #1,725 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 21 | #1,729 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 22 | #1,678 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 16 | #2,095 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 19 | #1,781 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 18 | #1,862 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 23 | #1,507 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 18 | #1,732 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 9 | #2,731 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 6 | #3,094 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 10 | #1,881 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 8 | #1,968 | 0.02 |
| 1909 | 6 | #1,377 | 0.04 |
| 1907 | 6 | #1,268 | 0.04 |
| 1900 | 8 | #1,005 | 0.05 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,183 | 0.04 |
| 1888 | 7 | #874 | 0.06 |
| 1881 | 8 | #677 | 0.08 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Knox a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Knox has been given almost only to boys: 240 girls in 103 years of records.
Girls and boys named Knox: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Knox, and how old are they?
23,700 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 24,382 Americans ever recorded as Knox. The median Knox alive today is 7 years old; half are between 4 and 11.
The 2020 Census counted 12,713 people named Knox (134 women and girls, 12,579 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 13,585 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 39 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 100 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 27 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 91 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,820 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 20,600 |
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 Knox born?
The states with the most babies named Knox are Texas, Ohio and Florida, with 20% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 189 | #209 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 85 | #162 | 1.3× |
| Florida | 81 | #256 | 0.6× |
| Tennessee | 75 | #129 | 2.1× |
| California | 74 | #435 | 0.4× |
| Georgia | 73 | #172 | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 69 | #172 | 1.0× |
| Missouri | 65 | #106 | 1.4× |
| North Carolina | 62 | #202 | 1.0× |
| Indiana | 58 | #139 | 1.5× |
Where Knox is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Knox is most over-represented in Nebraska: since 1910 it was given 2.4 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 Knox 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 25,002 babies since 1880, Knox is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,849 of their 1,919 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 Knox
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 Knox and names like it
- Compare Knox and KnoxxBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sKnox peaked in 2022.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Knox since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Knox: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Knox.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Knox alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with KMost given first.