Mortimer
Mortimer was last recorded in 2023, when 5 babies were given it; 1,943 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 2023 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Mortimer by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Mortimer mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Mortimer is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the sense “dead pond” (meaning).
A habitational surname from Mortemer in France, from Old Northern French, literally meaning “dead pond”.
/ˈmɔɹtəmɚ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Mortimer?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #13,523, in 2023; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
91 babies in 1916, the peak
Mortimer peaked in 1916, when 91 boys were given it, #613 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 5 | #13,523 | under 0.01 |
| 2021 | 6 | #11,695 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 8 | #9,276 | under 0.01 |
| 2019 | 5 | #13,490 | under 0.01 |
| 2015 | 5 | #13,411 | under 0.01 |
| 1972 | 5 | #5,507 | under 0.01 |
| 1971 | 5 | #5,412 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 7 | #4,101 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 6 | #3,804 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 6 | #3,805 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (89)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | 8 | #3,208 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 8 | #3,242 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 5 | #4,451 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 6 | #3,932 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 6 | #3,869 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 5 | #4,331 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 7 | #3,460 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 8 | #3,120 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 8 | #3,102 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 7 | #3,329 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 6 | #3,604 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 12 | #2,286 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 5 | #4,022 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 12 | #2,323 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 5 | #3,860 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 5 | #3,631 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 9 | #2,578 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 11 | #2,361 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 9 | #2,653 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 7 | #3,051 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 12 | #2,153 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 8 | #2,748 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 14 | #1,951 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 18 | #1,672 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 15 | #1,856 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 12 | #2,207 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 19 | #1,651 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 16 | #1,809 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 29 | #1,282 | 0.03 |
| 1931 | 20 | #1,625 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 36 | #1,186 | 0.03 |
| 1929 | 42 | #1,070 | 0.04 |
| 1928 | 47 | #1,016 | 0.04 |
| 1927 | 43 | #1,094 | 0.04 |
| 1926 | 48 | #1,004 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 58 | #887 | 0.05 |
| 1924 | 62 | #879 | 0.05 |
| 1923 | 71 | #790 | 0.06 |
| 1922 | 79 | #745 | 0.07 |
| 1921 | 83 | #727 | 0.08 |
| 1920 | 70 | #803 | 0.07 |
| 1919 | 91 | #644 | 0.09 |
| 1918 | 88 | #662 | 0.09 |
| 1917 | 83 | #658 | 0.09 |
| 1916 | 91 | #613 | 0.10 |
| 1915 | 76 | #669 | 0.09 |
| 1914 | 75 | #582 | 0.11 |
| 1913 | 57 | #585 | 0.11 |
| 1912 | 55 | #542 | 0.13 |
| 1911 | 18 | #781 | 0.08 |
| 1910 | 11 | #1,022 | 0.06 |
| 1909 | 9 | #1,059 | 0.05 |
| 1908 | 9 | #1,000 | 0.06 |
| 1907 | 17 | #627 | 0.12 |
| 1906 | 9 | #900 | 0.07 |
| 1905 | 12 | #729 | 0.09 |
| 1904 | 13 | #674 | 0.10 |
| 1903 | 5 | #1,247 | 0.04 |
| 1902 | 7 | #993 | 0.06 |
| 1901 | 10 | #714 | 0.09 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,266 | 0.04 |
| 1899 | 10 | #693 | 0.09 |
| 1898 | 11 | #692 | 0.09 |
| 1897 | 7 | #909 | 0.06 |
| 1896 | 13 | #618 | 0.11 |
| 1895 | 8 | #845 | 0.07 |
| 1894 | 14 | #556 | 0.12 |
| 1893 | 10 | #693 | 0.09 |
| 1891 | 13 | #517 | 0.13 |
| 1890 | 7 | #855 | 0.06 |
| 1888 | 8 | #797 | 0.07 |
| 1887 | 8 | #724 | 0.08 |
| 1886 | 14 | #501 | 0.13 |
| 1885 | 11 | #595 | 0.10 |
| 1884 | 10 | #646 | 0.09 |
| 1883 | 10 | #625 | 0.10 |
| 1882 | 15 | #481 | 0.13 |
| 1881 | 11 | #553 | 0.11 |
| 1880 | 12 | #552 | 0.11 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Mortimer a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Mortimer has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 89 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Mortimer: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Mortimer, and how old are they?
An estimated 166 Americans named Mortimer and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (9% of everyone recorded); the median is 69 years old and half are between 56 and 81. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 431 people named Mortimer (6 women and girls, 425 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 218 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.0 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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 Mortimer born?
The states with the most babies named Mortimer are New York, New Jersey and Illinois, with 96% of its births recorded by state since 1910; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 786 | not ranked | 4.9× |
| New Jersey | 62 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 15 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Massachusetts | 15 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Connecticut | 10 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | not ranked | 0.0× |
| Wisconsin | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Mortimer is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Mortimer is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 it was given 4.9 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 Mortimer with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Mortimer
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 Mortimer and names like it
- Compare Mortimer and AdolphBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sMortimer peaked in 1916.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Mortimer since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Mortimer: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1916The year the most babies were named Mortimer.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Mortimer alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.