Moses

Boys’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Moses was given to 583 boys in 2025, #515 among boys’ names; 43,342 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 28,700 Americans named Moses and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (66% of everyone recorded); the median is 26 years old and half are between 13 and 48.

Babies named Moses each year, first recorded in 1880

Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).

Moses or Moises Names of the 2010s Names in California

Births of Moses by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

What does Moses mean?

Wiktionary, English section

Moses is “a male given name from Hebrew.”

From Latin Mōsēs, from Ancient Greek Μωσῆς (Mōsês), from earlier Μωυσῆς (Mōusês), from Biblical Hebrew מֹשֶׁה (mōšê). Further etymology is unclear, but it is sometimes conjectured to derive from Egyptian ms-s (msj, “to give birth to”), a common element in Egyptian names of the form ‘[name of deity] is the one who bore him’; or, alternatively, contains Egyptian N35A (mw, “water”).

/ˈmoʊzəs/

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Moses (English), CC BY‑SA 4.0. Quoted from the entry; text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out.

Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).

How popular is Moses?

#515 among boys’ names, 2025

Moses fell from #468 in 2015 to #515 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born held at 0.34 per 1,000.

669 babies in 2016, the peak

Moses peaked in 2016, when 669 boys were given it, #460 among boys’ names. The 589 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 88% of that peak.

Moses by year
Year	Births	Rank	Per 1,000 boys
2025	583	#515	0.34
2024	612	#500	0.36
2023	537	#546	0.31
2022	580	#514	0.33
2021	572	#513	0.33
2020	595	#494	0.34
2019	562	#510	0.31
2018	586	#492	0.32
2017	630	#473	0.34
2016	669	#460	0.35

Every recorded year (146)

Year	Births	Rank	Per 1,000 boys
2015	643	#468	0.34
2014	587	#482	0.31
2013	606	#464	0.32
2012	486	#540	0.26
2011	505	#515	0.27
2010	515	#502	0.27
2009	544	#500	0.27
2008	562	#490	0.28
2007	606	#456	0.29
2006	618	#441	0.30
2005	481	#512	0.24
2004	493	#495	0.25
2003	504	#491	0.26
2002	517	#463	0.27
2001	545	#445	0.28
2000	520	#458	0.26
1999	463	#481	0.24
1998	426	#503	0.22
1997	402	#510	0.21
1996	372	#530	0.20
1995	306	#585	0.16
1994	347	#551	0.18
1993	359	#542	0.18
1992	327	#561	0.16
1991	340	#552	0.17
1990	293	#586	0.14
1989	335	#521	0.17
1988	296	#530	0.15
1987	312	#507	0.17
1986	290	#523	0.16
1985	315	#489	0.17
1984	338	#456	0.19
1983	332	#454	0.19
1982	349	#457	0.19
1981	360	#436	0.20
1980	350	#445	0.20
1979	366	#417	0.21
1978	313	#452	0.19
1977	316	#451	0.19
1976	319	#435	0.20
1975	340	#423	0.22
1974	295	#467	0.19
1973	247	#498	0.16
1972	198	#569	0.12
1971	199	#580	0.11
1970	184	#598	0.10
1969	188	#573	0.11
1968	169	#585	0.10
1967	172	#579	0.10
1966	165	#586	0.09
1965	230	#504	0.12
1964	175	#600	0.09
1963	216	#539	0.11
1962	239	#512	0.12
1961	251	#500	0.12
1960	301	#459	0.14
1959	275	#473	0.13
1958	292	#459	0.14
1957	266	#478	0.12
1956	246	#484	0.12
1955	267	#455	0.13
1954	270	#441	0.13
1953	273	#428	0.14
1952	280	#412	0.14
1951	315	#382	0.17
1950	291	#396	0.16
1949	292	#393	0.16
1948	316	#383	0.18
1947	283	#408	0.15
1946	249	#404	0.15
1945	235	#393	0.17
1944	271	#367	0.20
1943	301	#352	0.21
1942	275	#365	0.20
1941	276	#352	0.22
1940	275	#343	0.24
1939	250	#351	0.23
1938	265	#341	0.24
1937	278	#326	0.26
1936	230	#357	0.22
1935	257	#344	0.25
1934	286	#321	0.28
1933	280	#320	0.28
1932	284	#325	0.27
1931	298	#316	0.29
1930	288	#326	0.26
1929	316	#310	0.29
1928	318	#316	0.29
1927	321	#321	0.28
1926	341	#307	0.31
1925	343	#308	0.31
1924	358	#302	0.32
1923	381	#288	0.35
1922	387	#285	0.36
1921	378	#288	0.34
1920	383	#286	0.36
1919	347	#289	0.35
1918	352	#290	0.35
1917	339	#281	0.37
1916	333	#281	0.37
1915	287	#300	0.34
1914	258	#272	0.39
1913	208	#265	0.41
1912	207	#245	0.48
1911	128	#225	0.57
1910	132	#197	0.68
1909	108	#201	0.66
1908	82	#231	0.53
1907	91	#211	0.62
1906	73	#228	0.55
1905	78	#217	0.59
1904	87	#199	0.68
1903	86	#187	0.72
1902	73	#209	0.60
1901	52	#240	0.49
1900	117	#181	0.78
1899	77	#183	0.72
1898	69	#210	0.56
1897	70	#202	0.62
1896	81	#199	0.68
1895	70	#206	0.60
1894	83	#183	0.72
1893	81	#178	0.72
1892	86	#183	0.70
1891	70	#183	0.69
1890	64	#206	0.58
1889	78	#171	0.71
1888	80	#186	0.66
1887	87	#147	0.86
1886	84	#167	0.76
1885	74	#179	0.69
1884	77	#181	0.67
1883	82	#157	0.78
1882	93	#147	0.82
1881	93	#131	0.92
1880	111	#119	1.0

Download Moses’s births by year (CSV)

Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.

Is Moses a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Moses has been given almost only to boys: 51 girls in 146 years of records.

Girls and boys named Moses: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.

How many people are named Moses, and how old are they?

28,700 alive in 2026, estimated

That is 66% of the 43,342 Americans ever recorded as Moses. The median Moses alive today is 26 years old; half are between 13 and 48.

The 2020 Census counted 28,165 people named Moses (122 women and girls, 28,043 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 26,915 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% above that prediction.

Alive today, by age

100-1096

90-99184

80-89873

70-791,700

60-691,840

50-592,040

40-493,090

30-393,150

20-29 (median)4,870

10-195,670

0-95,220

Alive today, by generation

By generation
Generation	Born	Alive
Silent Generation	1928-1945	937
Baby Boomers	1946-1964	3,340
Generation X	1965-1980	3,620
Millennials	1981-1996	5,010
Generation Z	1997-2012	8,050
Generation Alpha	2013-2025	7,710

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 Moses born?

The states with the most babies named Moses are California, Texas and New York, with 35% of its births recorded by state in 2025.

States with the most births: girls and boys together; rank among boys’ names in the state in 2025
State	Births 2025	Rank, boys	vs. national
California	86	#385	1.3×
Texas	70	#484	1.4×
New York	36	#468	1.3×
Florida	28	#614	1.2×
Washington	23	#334	0.7×
Ohio	19	#552	0.4×
Georgia	18	#578	1.7×
Arizona	18	#424	0.8×
Pennsylvania	17	#568	0.5×
Virginia	14	#548	1.4×

Where Moses is more common than its national share predicts

Relative to its national share, Moses is most over-represented in South Carolina: since 1910 it was given 3.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.

South Carolina3.32×

Hawaii2.72×

Georgia1.74×

Mississippi1.72×

Alabama1.55×

North Carolina1.44×

Texas1.42×

Virginia1.38×

Bars start at 1× (as often as the national share predicts).

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 Moses 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 75,395 babies since 1880, Moses is the most given (57% of them). In 2025 it was given to 589 of their 1,109 babies (53%), again the most given.

Moses and the names spelled alike
Name	Since 1880	Births 2025	Peak year
Moses	43,342	589	2016
Moises	31,397	502	2001
Moss	519	18	2023
Moyses	137	under 5	2001

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 Moses

Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.

Name	Recorded	1880-2025
Angus	6,751
Baxter	4,034
Hamilton	6,517
Ransom	4,869
Alonzo	46,109
Price	4,022

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 Moses and names like it

Compare Moses and MoisesBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
The most given names of the 2010sMoses peaked in 2016.
California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Moses since 1910.
Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Moses: every such name, by how often it is given.
The top names of 2016The year the most babies were named Moses.
The names of Generation ZMost people named Moses alive today were born 1997-2012.
Names starting with MMost given first.

Compare Moses with another name