Montana
Montana is given to both girls and boys: 242 girls and 114 boys were given it in 2025 (#1,033 among girls’ names and #1,525 among boys’, #1,493 among all names counting both); 12,855 Americans have been recorded with it since 1910 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026). Girls have outnumbered boys among babies named Montana every year since 1988.
An estimated 12,400 Americans named Montana and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 25 years old and half are between 14 and 30.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Montana by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Montana mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Montana is “a unisex given name transferred from the place name, specifically from the name of the U.S. state.”
From Latin montāna
the US state via Spanish montaña (“mountain”)
the surname from Spanish Montaña topographic surname
/mɑnˈtænə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Montana?
#1,033 among girls’ names, 2025
Montana rose from #1,674 in 2015 to #1,033 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.07 to 0.15 per 1,000.
678 babies in 1998, the peak
Montana peaked in 1998, when 678 babies were given it (496 girls, #511 among girls’ names). The 356 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 53% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 242 | #1,033 | 114 | #1,525 |
| 2024 | 236 | #1,059 | 102 | #1,657 |
| 2023 | 174 | #1,309 | 110 | #1,588 |
| 2022 | 184 | #1,289 | 107 | #1,631 |
| 2021 | 150 | #1,434 | 111 | #1,572 |
| 2020 | 116 | #1,738 | 110 | #1,522 |
| 2019 | 121 | #1,721 | 111 | #1,527 |
| 2018 | 113 | #1,809 | 99 | #1,646 |
| 2017 | 115 | #1,811 | 69 | #2,044 |
| 2016 | 138 | #1,602 | 62 | #2,197 |
Every recorded year (84)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 128 | #1,674 | 73 | #1,995 |
| 2014 | 126 | #1,682 | 50 | #2,505 |
| 2013 | 104 | #1,924 | 41 | #2,827 |
| 2012 | 87 | #2,182 | 46 | #2,663 |
| 2011 | 99 | #1,997 | 28 | #3,750 |
| 2010 | 80 | #2,378 | 33 | #3,354 |
| 2009 | 129 | #1,717 | 32 | #3,450 |
| 2008 | 192 | #1,298 | 42 | #2,862 |
| 2007 | 290 | #933 | 65 | #2,106 |
| 2006 | 306 | #873 | 75 | #1,836 |
| 2005 | 226 | #1,060 | 89 | #1,568 |
| 2004 | 238 | #994 | 102 | #1,400 |
| 2003 | 304 | #811 | 85 | #1,523 |
| 2002 | 366 | #684 | 124 | #1,148 |
| 2001 | 374 | #673 | 143 | #1,030 |
| 2000 | 432 | #592 | 141 | #1,033 |
| 1999 | 462 | #545 | 141 | #998 |
| 1998 | 496 | #511 | 182 | #820 |
| 1997 | 458 | #523 | 181 | #810 |
| 1996 | 374 | #613 | 188 | #776 |
| 1995 | 341 | #639 | 194 | #768 |
| 1994 | 331 | #650 | 185 | #779 |
| 1993 | 225 | #861 | 125 | #960 |
| 1992 | 182 | #1,027 | 118 | #999 |
| 1991 | 117 | #1,375 | 93 | #1,136 |
| 1990 | 97 | #1,570 | 79 | #1,243 |
| 1989 | 92 | #1,545 | 73 | #1,273 |
| 1988 | 75 | #1,716 | 36 | #1,866 |
| 1987 | 47 | #2,296 | 40 | #1,698 |
| 1986 | 46 | #2,252 | 43 | #1,552 |
| 1985 | 52 | #2,066 | 54 | #1,312 |
| 1984 | 8 | #7,890 | 27 | #2,017 |
| 1983 | 16 | #4,614 | 15 | #3,022 |
| 1982 | 9 | #7,273 | 27 | #2,038 |
| 1981 | 10 | #6,651 | 10 | #4,047 |
| 1980 | 10 | #6,608 | 11 | #3,763 |
| 1979 | 11 | #6,025 | 10 | #3,982 |
| 1978 | 7 | #8,230 | 12 | #3,332 |
| 1977 | 5 | #10,681 | under 5 | |
| 1976 | 16 | #4,084 | 8 | #4,278 |
| 1975 | 8 | #6,908 | 9 | #3,836 |
| 1974 | under 5 | 5 | #5,743 | |
| 1971 | 6 | #8,000 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | under 5 | 5 | #4,361 | |
| 1956 | 5 | #6,595 | under 5 | |
| 1954 | 5 | #6,347 | under 5 | |
| 1952 | 5 | #6,147 | under 5 | |
| 1942 | under 5 | 5 | #3,909 | |
| 1939 | 7 | #3,677 | under 5 | |
| 1938 | 8 | #3,371 | under 5 | |
| 1937 | 5 | #4,723 | under 5 | |
| 1936 | 5 | #4,660 | under 5 | |
| 1934 | 7 | #3,699 | under 5 | |
| 1933 | 5 | #4,670 | under 5 | |
| 1932 | 8 | #3,481 | under 5 | |
| 1931 | 7 | #3,741 | under 5 | |
| 1930 | 16 | #2,177 | under 5 | |
| 1928 | 7 | #4,056 | under 5 | |
| 1926 | 8 | #3,795 | under 5 | |
| 1925 | 6 | #4,797 | under 5 | |
| 1924 | 11 | #3,095 | under 5 | |
| 1923 | 7 | #4,249 | under 5 | |
| 1922 | 8 | #3,903 | under 5 | |
| 1921 | 10 | #3,328 | under 5 | |
| 1920 | 12 | #2,842 | under 5 | |
| 1919 | 17 | #2,131 | under 5 | |
| 1918 | 13 | #2,626 | under 5 | |
| 1917 | 12 | #2,657 | under 5 | |
| 1916 | 7 | #3,807 | under 5 | |
| 1915 | 17 | #1,936 | under 5 | |
| 1914 | 6 | #3,489 | under 5 | |
| 1913 | 10 | #2,125 | under 5 | |
| 1912 | 5 | #3,294 | under 5 | |
| 1910 | 5 | #2,674 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Montana a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 12,855 Americans recorded as Montana, 69% are girls and 31% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Montana: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Montana, and how old are they?
12,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 12,855 Americans ever recorded as Montana. The median Montana alive today is 25 years old; half are between 14 and 30.
The 2020 Census counted 9,613 people named Montana (6,778 women and girls, 2,835 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 10,808 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% 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 | 16 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 15 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 110 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,230 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 5,960 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,090 |
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 Montana born?
The states with the most babies named Montana are Texas, Ohio and California, with 32% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 35 | #1,391 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 26 | #586 | 1.0× |
| California | 18 | #1,909 | 0.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 18 | #590 | 0.9× |
| Tennessee | 17 | #692 | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 14 | #1,562 | 0.4× |
| North Carolina | 13 | #761 | 0.9× |
| Missouri | 12 | #505 | 1.3× |
| Oklahoma | 11 | #392 | 2.1× |
| Florida | 10 | #1,403 | 0.7× |
Where Montana is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Montana is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1910 it was given 2.1 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 girls’ 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 Montana 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 4 names spelled alike, given to 14,485 babies since 1880, Montana is the most given (89% of them). In 2025 it was given to 356 of their 356 babies (100%), 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 Montana
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 Montana and names like it
- Compare Montana and MontannaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sMontana peaked in 1998.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Montana since 1910.
- From place namesWiktionary’s origin for Montana: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1998The year the most babies were named Montana.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Montana alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with MMost given first.