Sanders
Sanders was given to 15 boys in 2025, #6,083 among boys’ names; 2,398 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,180 Americans named Sanders and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (49% of everyone recorded); the median is 45 years old and half are between 19 and 68.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sanders by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Sanders mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Sanders is “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
From the Middle English Sander, a shortened form of Alexander + suffix -s.
/ˈsændəɹz/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Sanders?
#6,083 among boys’ names, 2025
Sanders rose from #6,999 in 2015 to #6,083 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 6.3 to 8.8 per million.
47 babies in 1951, the peak
Sanders peaked in 1951, when 47 boys were given it, #1,050 among boys’ names. The 15 births of 2025 are 32% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 15 | #6,083 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 13 | #6,753 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 20 | #5,031 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 12 | #7,172 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 17 | #5,512 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 15 | #5,923 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 9 | #8,739 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 12 | #7,045 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 22 | #4,564 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 24 | #4,295 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (145)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 12 | #6,999 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 21 | #4,676 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 14 | #6,181 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 24 | #4,222 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 14 | #6,189 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 9 | #8,661 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 15 | #6,029 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 20 | #4,862 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 15 | #5,856 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 11 | #7,331 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 11 | #7,013 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 12 | #6,442 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 10 | #7,141 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 7 | #9,202 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 10 | #6,841 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 13 | #5,517 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 8 | #7,736 | under 0.01 |
| 1998 | 10 | #6,208 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 16 | #4,197 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 10 | #5,888 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 17 | #3,813 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 15 | #4,248 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 14 | #4,398 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 16 | #3,882 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 11 | #5,033 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 13 | #4,360 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 10 | #5,098 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 15 | #3,495 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 10 | #4,516 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 9 | #4,770 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 10 | #4,283 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 6 | #6,185 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 16 | #2,891 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 16 | #2,952 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 8 | #4,882 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 13 | #3,398 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 11 | #3,768 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 14 | #3,047 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 13 | #3,170 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 15 | #2,800 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 12 | #3,203 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 13 | #2,914 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 15 | #2,584 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 15 | #2,518 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 9 | #3,604 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 11 | #3,036 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 17 | #2,117 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 15 | #2,176 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 15 | #2,122 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 10 | #2,750 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 18 | #1,905 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 16 | #2,100 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 16 | #2,098 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 15 | #2,175 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 19 | #1,934 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 24 | #1,684 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 17 | #2,027 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 24 | #1,634 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 17 | #2,005 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 24 | #1,638 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 30 | #1,414 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 29 | #1,429 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 39 | #1,211 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 25 | #1,543 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 47 | #1,050 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 30 | #1,337 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 27 | #1,428 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 27 | #1,425 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 23 | #1,589 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 30 | #1,296 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 30 | #1,224 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 19 | #1,618 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 30 | #1,278 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 30 | #1,294 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 24 | #1,406 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 20 | #1,561 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 16 | #1,784 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 27 | #1,305 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 21 | #1,520 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 18 | #1,635 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 24 | #1,419 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 23 | #1,456 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 19 | #1,635 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 31 | #1,231 | 0.03 |
| 1931 | 22 | #1,530 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 26 | #1,460 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 20 | #1,717 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 20 | #1,750 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 26 | #1,507 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 22 | #1,651 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 21 | #1,735 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 27 | #1,484 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 30 | #1,356 | 0.03 |
| 1922 | 38 | #1,177 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 32 | #1,322 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 29 | #1,375 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 38 | #1,138 | 0.04 |
| 1918 | 29 | #1,340 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 23 | #1,523 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 16 | #1,931 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 24 | #1,403 | 0.03 |
| 1914 | 28 | #1,095 | 0.04 |
| 1913 | 16 | #1,358 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 20 | #1,052 | 0.05 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,273 | 0.04 |
| 1910 | 20 | #671 | 0.10 |
| 1909 | 11 | #946 | 0.07 |
| 1908 | 11 | #869 | 0.07 |
| 1907 | 9 | #990 | 0.06 |
| 1906 | 8 | #987 | 0.06 |
| 1905 | 9 | #911 | 0.07 |
| 1904 | 6 | #1,182 | 0.05 |
| 1903 | 5 | #1,279 | 0.04 |
| 1902 | 6 | #1,116 | 0.05 |
| 1901 | 6 | #1,040 | 0.06 |
| 1900 | 10 | #894 | 0.07 |
| 1899 | 5 | #1,180 | 0.05 |
| 1898 | 7 | #981 | 0.06 |
| 1897 | 6 | #1,040 | 0.05 |
| 1896 | 10 | #771 | 0.08 |
| 1894 | 6 | #1,060 | 0.05 |
| 1893 | 13 | #567 | 0.12 |
| 1892 | 5 | #1,228 | 0.04 |
| 1891 | 6 | #943 | 0.06 |
| 1890 | 6 | #981 | 0.05 |
| 1889 | 8 | #778 | 0.07 |
| 1888 | 7 | #903 | 0.06 |
| 1887 | 7 | #810 | 0.07 |
| 1886 | 6 | #950 | 0.05 |
| 1885 | 8 | #755 | 0.07 |
| 1884 | 9 | #699 | 0.08 |
| 1883 | 8 | #715 | 0.08 |
| 1882 | 10 | #641 | 0.09 |
| 1881 | 8 | #693 | 0.08 |
| 1880 | 6 | #895 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Sanders a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Sanders has been given almost only to boys: 6 girls in 145 years of records.
Girls and boys named Sanders: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sanders, and how old are they?
1,180 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 49% of the 2,398 Americans ever recorded as Sanders. The median Sanders alive today is 45 years old; half are between 19 and 68.
The 2020 Census counted 1,334 people named Sanders (156 women and girls, 1,178 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,220 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 84 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 307 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 196 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 186 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 202 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 204 |
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 Sanders born?
The states with the most babies named Sanders are Georgia, Louisiana and South Carolina, with 78% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Louisiana and South Carolina are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 101 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Louisiana | 55 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| South Carolina | 40 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Alabama | 25 | #860 | 0.5× |
| New York | 14 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| California | 5 | not ranked | 0.0× |
| Florida | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Mississippi | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Sanders is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Sanders is most over-represented in Georgia: since 1910 it was given 1.6 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 Sanders 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 2,591 babies since 1880, Sanders is the most given (93% of them).
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 Sanders
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 Sanders and names like it
- Compare Sanders and SaundersBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sSanders peaked in 1951.
- Georgia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sanders since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Sanders: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1951The year the most babies were named Sanders.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Sanders alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.