October
October is given to both girls and boys: 40 girls and 9 boys were given it in 2025 (#3,757 among girls’ names and #8,721 among boys’, #5,724 among all names counting both); 1,342 Americans have been recorded with it since 1969 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,330 Americans named October and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 11 years old and half are between 6 and 18.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of October by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does October mean?
Wiktionary, English section
October is “a female given name transferred from the month name.” Its etymology gives the senses “eighth month” (Octōber) and “eight” (octō) and “twice four” (*oḱtṓw).
From Middle English, borrowed from Old French octobre, from Latin Octōber (“eighth month”), from Latin octō (“eight”), from Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓw (“twice four”); + Latin -ber, from -bris, an adjectival suffix; October was the eighth month in the Roman calendar.
/ɑkˈtoʊ.bəɹ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is October?
#3,757 among girls’ names, 2025
October fell from #3,745 in 2015 to #3,757 in 2025 among girls’ names, although its share of girls born rose from 23.0 to 24.9 per million.
77 babies in 2022, the peak
October peaked in 2022, when 77 babies were given it (66 girls, #2,657 among girls’ names). The 49 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 64% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 40 | #3,757 | 24.9 |
| 2024 | 43 | #3,630 | 26.5 |
| 2023 | 52 | #3,173 | 32.4 |
| 2022 | 66 | #2,657 | 40.2 |
| 2021 | 52 | #3,147 | 31.7 |
| 2020 | 56 | #2,924 | 34.6 |
| 2019 | 51 | #3,156 | 30.4 |
| 2018 | 63 | #2,731 | 37.0 |
| 2017 | 52 | #3,128 | 30.1 |
| 2016 | 56 | #3,003 | 31.6 |
Every recorded year (43)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 41 | #3,745 | 23.0 |
| 2014 | 46 | #3,470 | 25.8 |
| 2013 | 44 | #3,557 | 25.1 |
| 2012 | 57 | #2,996 | 32.4 |
| 2011 | 54 | #3,123 | 30.7 |
| 2010 | 64 | #2,777 | 36.0 |
| 2009 | 60 | #2,923 | 32.7 |
| 2008 | 72 | #2,606 | 38.1 |
| 2007 | 57 | #3,084 | 29.6 |
| 2006 | 12 | #9,745 | 6.3 |
| 2005 | 13 | #8,721 | 7.0 |
| 2003 | 6 | #15,260 | 3.3 |
| 2002 | 8 | #11,905 | 4.5 |
| 2001 | 10 | #9,905 | 5.6 |
| 2000 | 9 | #10,503 | 5.0 |
| 1999 | 7 | #12,309 | 3.9 |
| 1998 | 7 | #12,038 | 4.0 |
| 1997 | 11 | #8,178 | 6.3 |
| 1995 | 5 | #15,092 | 2.8 |
| 1992 | 7 | #11,347 | 3.8 |
| 1991 | 5 | #14,716 | 2.7 |
| 1990 | 8 | #9,886 | 4.2 |
| 1989 | 6 | #11,885 | 3.3 |
| 1984 | 7 | #8,847 | 4.2 |
| 1982 | 5 | #11,747 | 3.0 |
| 1981 | 10 | #6,669 | 6.0 |
| 1980 | 14 | #5,152 | 8.4 |
| 1979 | 15 | #4,777 | 9.3 |
| 1978 | 7 | #8,276 | 4.6 |
| 1977 | 22 | #3,451 | 14.3 |
| 1976 | 16 | #4,094 | 10.9 |
| 1974 | 5 | #9,759 | 3.4 |
| 1969 | 5 | #8,304 | 3.0 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is October a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,342 Americans recorded as October, 93% are girls and 7% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named October: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named October, and how old are they?
1,330 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,342 Americans ever recorded as October. The median October alive today is 11 years old; half are between 6 and 18.
The 2020 Census counted 976 people named October (896 women and girls, 80 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 971 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 80 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 51 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 443 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 753 |
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,433 babies since 1880, October is the most given (94% of them). In 2025 it was given to 49 of their 49 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 October
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 October and names like it
- Compare October and OktoberBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sOctober peaked in 2022.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named October since 1910.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named October.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named October alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with OMost given first.