Ransom
Ransom was given to 97 boys in 2025, #1,695 among boys’ names; 4,869 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,100 Americans named Ransom and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (64% of everyone recorded); the median is 17 years old and half are between 9 and 40.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ransom by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Ransom?
#1,695 among boys’ names, 2025
Ransom fell from #1,576 in 2015 to #1,695 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 53.7 to 56.8 per million.
111 babies in 2022, the peak
Ransom peaked in 2022, when 111 boys were given it, #1,594 among boys’ names. The 97 births of 2025 are 87% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 97 | #1,695 | 0.06 |
| 2024 | 102 | #1,659 | 0.06 |
| 2023 | 105 | #1,647 | 0.06 |
| 2022 | 111 | #1,594 | 0.06 |
| 2021 | 102 | #1,643 | 0.06 |
| 2020 | 102 | #1,598 | 0.06 |
| 2019 | 74 | #1,992 | 0.04 |
| 2018 | 78 | #1,914 | 0.04 |
| 2017 | 100 | #1,610 | 0.05 |
| 2016 | 110 | #1,530 | 0.06 |
Every recorded year (145)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 103 | #1,576 | 0.05 |
| 2014 | 93 | #1,664 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 96 | #1,608 | 0.05 |
| 2012 | 78 | #1,875 | 0.04 |
| 2011 | 70 | #1,982 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 83 | #1,790 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 67 | #2,066 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 55 | #2,369 | 0.03 |
| 2007 | 60 | #2,231 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 56 | #2,275 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 51 | #2,317 | 0.03 |
| 2004 | 35 | #2,938 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 29 | #3,249 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 31 | #2,996 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 28 | #3,204 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 43 | #2,282 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 35 | #2,540 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 42 | #2,185 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 46 | #1,986 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 26 | #2,887 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 39 | #2,125 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 25 | #2,917 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 27 | #2,674 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 23 | #2,974 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 24 | #2,800 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 23 | #2,845 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 24 | #2,665 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 22 | #2,660 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 28 | #2,158 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 21 | #2,583 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 30 | #1,956 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 25 | #2,143 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 17 | #2,764 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 14 | #3,248 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 22 | #2,317 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 14 | #3,210 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 19 | #2,537 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 15 | #2,892 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 16 | #2,757 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 18 | #2,482 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 12 | #3,196 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 13 | #2,907 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 12 | #2,977 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 9 | #3,544 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 23 | #1,899 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 10 | #3,232 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 17 | #2,112 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 19 | #1,884 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 27 | #1,496 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 14 | #2,192 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 17 | #1,976 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 16 | #2,094 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 25 | #1,620 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 21 | #1,793 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 24 | #1,676 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 20 | #1,847 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 24 | #1,656 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 15 | #2,152 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 27 | #1,537 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 36 | #1,294 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 28 | #1,477 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 26 | #1,519 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 28 | #1,449 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 32 | #1,341 | 0.02 |
| 1951 | 29 | #1,397 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 29 | #1,357 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 34 | #1,247 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 29 | #1,374 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 30 | #1,355 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 31 | #1,275 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 24 | #1,371 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 21 | #1,514 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 36 | #1,152 | 0.03 |
| 1942 | 40 | #1,085 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 37 | #1,086 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 30 | #1,247 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 31 | #1,189 | 0.03 |
| 1938 | 24 | #1,394 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 34 | #1,141 | 0.03 |
| 1936 | 37 | #1,066 | 0.04 |
| 1935 | 25 | #1,388 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 24 | #1,420 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 39 | #1,047 | 0.04 |
| 1932 | 23 | #1,501 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 27 | #1,355 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 48 | #988 | 0.04 |
| 1929 | 44 | #1,042 | 0.04 |
| 1928 | 40 | #1,119 | 0.04 |
| 1927 | 38 | #1,174 | 0.03 |
| 1926 | 43 | #1,087 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 36 | #1,197 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 45 | #1,067 | 0.04 |
| 1923 | 44 | #1,083 | 0.04 |
| 1922 | 41 | #1,118 | 0.04 |
| 1921 | 49 | #1,007 | 0.04 |
| 1920 | 43 | #1,085 | 0.04 |
| 1919 | 49 | #969 | 0.05 |
| 1918 | 45 | #1,007 | 0.04 |
| 1917 | 46 | #957 | 0.05 |
| 1916 | 45 | #961 | 0.05 |
| 1915 | 61 | #771 | 0.07 |
| 1914 | 40 | #865 | 0.06 |
| 1913 | 32 | #869 | 0.06 |
| 1912 | 30 | #815 | 0.07 |
| 1911 | 13 | #967 | 0.06 |
| 1910 | 15 | #813 | 0.08 |
| 1909 | 16 | #705 | 0.10 |
| 1908 | 15 | #705 | 0.10 |
| 1907 | 6 | #1,309 | 0.04 |
| 1906 | 10 | #840 | 0.08 |
| 1905 | 8 | #987 | 0.06 |
| 1904 | 9 | #863 | 0.07 |
| 1902 | 14 | #608 | 0.11 |
| 1901 | 10 | #718 | 0.09 |
| 1900 | 12 | #774 | 0.08 |
| 1899 | 6 | #1,029 | 0.06 |
| 1898 | 8 | #871 | 0.07 |
| 1897 | 7 | #917 | 0.06 |
| 1896 | 14 | #582 | 0.12 |
| 1895 | 13 | #601 | 0.11 |
| 1894 | 13 | #590 | 0.11 |
| 1893 | 12 | #602 | 0.11 |
| 1892 | 14 | #568 | 0.11 |
| 1891 | 11 | #582 | 0.11 |
| 1890 | 16 | #480 | 0.14 |
| 1889 | 13 | #544 | 0.12 |
| 1888 | 10 | #688 | 0.08 |
| 1887 | 14 | #480 | 0.14 |
| 1886 | 13 | #533 | 0.12 |
| 1885 | 12 | #572 | 0.11 |
| 1884 | 12 | #565 | 0.10 |
| 1883 | 9 | #671 | 0.09 |
| 1882 | 16 | #464 | 0.14 |
| 1881 | 11 | #558 | 0.11 |
| 1880 | 5 | #1,032 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Ransom a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ransom has been given almost only to boys: 10 girls in 145 years of records.
Girls and boys named Ransom: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ransom, and how old are they?
3,100 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 64% of the 4,869 Americans ever recorded as Ransom. The median Ransom alive today is 17 years old; half are between 9 and 40.
The 2020 Census counted 2,490 people named Ransom (50 women and girls, 2,440 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,672 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 107 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 326 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 224 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 371 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 797 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,270 |
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 Ransom born?
The states with the most babies named Ransom are Texas, California and Tennessee, with 69% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Tennessee is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 11 | #1,628 | 0.8× |
| California | 7 | #2,163 | 0.2× |
| Tennessee | 7 | #906 | 0.6× |
| North Carolina | 6 | #1,246 | 1.9× |
| Kentucky | 5 | #788 | 0.2× |
Where Ransom is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ransom is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1910 it was given 1.9 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 Ransom 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 Ransom
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 Ransom and names like it
- Compare Ransom and PriceBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sRansom peaked in 2022.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ransom since 1910.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Ransom.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Ransom alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with RMost given first.