Princeton
Princeton was given to 422 boys in 2025, #653 among boys’ names; 10,256 Americans have been recorded with it since 1950 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 10,100 Americans named Princeton and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 9 years old and half are between 5 and 12.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Princeton by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Princeton mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Princeton is “a male given name.” Its etymology gives the sense “town” (-ton).
From prince + -ton (“town”), originally in honor of crown princes or princes of the British Empire but later chiefly in honor of others with the name Prince or locations named Princeton. Doublet of Princetown. Cf. Princes Town, Princeville, Kingston, Kingstone, Coniston, Kingstown, Queenston, and Queenstown. In particular, the British Columbian town is named for Edward VII, who was known as Albert, Prince of Wales, during the reign of his mother Queen Victoria. The New Jersey borough is named for William III—who became king of England through marriage to Mary II—in honor of his own separate Dutch title of Prince of Orange. The North Carolina town and Nebraska and Ontario communities are named for the New Jersey borough; the Missouri city is named for the Battle of Princeton which occurred there in the American Revolution; and the Illinois city and Florida CDP are named for the university
/ˈpɹɪnstən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Princeton?
#653 among boys’ names, 2025
Princeton fell from #431 in 2015 to #653 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.37 to 0.25 per 1,000.
793 babies in 2017, the peak
Princeton peaked in 2017, when 793 boys were given it, #402 among boys’ names. The 422 births of 2025 are 53% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 422 | #653 | 0.25 |
| 2024 | 465 | #614 | 0.27 |
| 2023 | 533 | #549 | 0.31 |
| 2022 | 611 | #499 | 0.35 |
| 2021 | 626 | #478 | 0.36 |
| 2020 | 722 | #412 | 0.42 |
| 2019 | 768 | #405 | 0.43 |
| 2018 | 788 | #407 | 0.43 |
| 2017 | 793 | #402 | 0.43 |
| 2016 | 775 | #413 | 0.41 |
Every recorded year (64)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 714 | #431 | 0.37 |
| 2014 | 541 | #517 | 0.28 |
| 2013 | 389 | #637 | 0.21 |
| 2012 | 318 | #732 | 0.17 |
| 2011 | 202 | #978 | 0.11 |
| 2010 | 173 | #1,107 | 0.09 |
| 2009 | 136 | #1,296 | 0.07 |
| 2008 | 106 | #1,530 | 0.05 |
| 2007 | 85 | #1,758 | 0.04 |
| 2006 | 54 | #2,341 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 31 | #3,297 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 48 | #2,366 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 36 | #2,764 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 32 | #2,923 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 20 | #4,074 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 32 | #2,842 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 31 | #2,772 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 25 | #3,162 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 30 | #2,662 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 17 | #3,971 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 21 | #3,272 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 36 | #2,244 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 36 | #2,195 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 44 | #1,869 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 66 | #1,402 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 64 | #1,401 | 0.03 |
| 1989 | 47 | #1,669 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 55 | #1,410 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 37 | #1,784 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 45 | #1,503 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 52 | #1,344 | 0.03 |
| 1984 | 35 | #1,678 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 18 | #2,644 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 23 | #2,252 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 12 | #3,561 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 23 | #2,267 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 8 | #4,733 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 9 | #4,077 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 5 | #6,601 | under 0.01 |
| 1975 | 8 | #4,205 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 6 | #5,085 | under 0.01 |
| 1973 | 10 | #3,389 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 5 | #5,549 | under 0.01 |
| 1971 | 8 | #3,871 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 6 | #4,596 | under 0.01 |
| 1967 | 5 | #4,402 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 6 | #3,831 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 6 | #3,829 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 7 | #3,585 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 8 | #3,223 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 6 | #3,791 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 5 | #4,234 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 5 | #4,130 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 6 | #3,596 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Princeton a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Princeton has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 64 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Princeton: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Princeton, and how old are they?
10,100 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 10,256 Americans ever recorded as Princeton. The median Princeton alive today is 9 years old; half are between 5 and 12.
The 2020 Census counted 5,250 people named Princeton (42 women and girls, 5,208 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 6,973 born in the U.S. The Census count is 25% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 25 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 94 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 578 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,340 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 8,090 |
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 Princeton born?
The states with the most babies named Princeton are Georgia, Texas and Florida, with 27% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 43 | #291 | 2.5× |
| Texas | 34 | #801 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 29 | #597 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 25 | #433 | 0.7× |
| California | 24 | #952 | 0.5× |
| Tennessee | 20 | #405 | 1.7× |
| Michigan | 17 | #512 | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 16 | #596 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 15 | #634 | 1.3× |
| New York | 14 | #943 | 0.7× |
Where Princeton is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Princeton is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1950 it was given 3.7 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 Princeton 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 10,490 babies since 1880, Princeton is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 422 of their 435 babies (97%), 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 Princeton
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 Princeton and names like it
- Compare Princeton and PryncetonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sPrinceton peaked in 2017.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Princeton since 1910.
- The top names of 2017The year the most babies were named Princeton.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Princeton alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with PMost given first.