Smith
Smith was given to 120 boys in 2025, #1,483 among boys’ names; 5,664 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,490 Americans named Smith and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (62% of everyone recorded); the median is 13 years old and half are between 7 and 31.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Smith by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Smith mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Smith is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the senses “a surname” (Smith) and “smith” (smyth).
From smith or Middle English Smith (“a surname”), alternative form of Smyth, itself from smyth (“smith”). Doublet of Schmidt, Smid, and Smit.
/smɪθ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Smith?
#1,483 among boys’ names, 2025
Smith fell from #1,187 in 2015 to #1,483 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 81.4 to 70.3 per million.
174 babies in 2016, the peak
Smith peaked in 2016, when 174 babies were given it (162 boys, #1,178 among boys’ names). The 128 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 74% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 120 | #1,483 | 0.07 |
| 2024 | 109 | #1,587 | 0.06 |
| 2023 | 113 | #1,555 | 0.07 |
| 2022 | 112 | #1,587 | 0.06 |
| 2021 | 142 | #1,319 | 0.08 |
| 2020 | 123 | #1,412 | 0.07 |
| 2019 | 149 | #1,263 | 0.08 |
| 2018 | 134 | #1,346 | 0.07 |
| 2017 | 154 | #1,205 | 0.08 |
| 2016 | 162 | #1,178 | 0.09 |
Every recorded year (145)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 156 | #1,187 | 0.08 |
| 2014 | 139 | #1,283 | 0.07 |
| 2013 | 122 | #1,385 | 0.06 |
| 2012 | 89 | #1,707 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 76 | #1,860 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 78 | #1,865 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 47 | #2,652 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 59 | #2,256 | 0.03 |
| 2007 | 57 | #2,297 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 41 | #2,820 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 45 | #2,519 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 43 | #2,562 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 24 | #3,706 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 22 | #3,890 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 30 | #3,047 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 26 | #3,282 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 35 | #2,546 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 21 | #3,575 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 20 | #3,563 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 20 | #3,528 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 21 | #3,281 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 22 | #3,192 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 19 | #3,477 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 17 | #3,722 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 14 | #4,185 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 15 | #3,935 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 20 | #3,070 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 24 | #2,497 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 20 | #2,707 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 23 | #2,419 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 19 | #2,696 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 25 | #2,152 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 26 | #2,073 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 25 | #2,159 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 26 | #2,080 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 12 | #3,585 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 13 | #3,328 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 16 | #2,780 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 13 | #3,178 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 23 | #2,107 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 10 | #3,627 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 21 | #2,119 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 16 | #2,497 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 7 | #4,320 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 12 | #2,870 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 20 | #1,905 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 13 | #2,431 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 14 | #2,234 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 18 | #1,882 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 12 | #2,452 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 15 | #2,192 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 18 | #1,949 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 16 | #2,104 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 12 | #2,523 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 26 | #1,614 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 13 | #2,397 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 17 | #2,012 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 16 | #2,078 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 22 | #1,712 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 20 | #1,783 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 23 | #1,622 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 18 | #1,891 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 22 | #1,655 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 27 | #1,450 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 21 | #1,650 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 18 | #1,812 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 44 | #1,072 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 35 | #1,249 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 18 | #1,748 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 24 | #1,372 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 31 | #1,206 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 19 | #1,687 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 30 | #1,295 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 26 | #1,329 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 32 | #1,205 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 43 | #971 | 0.04 |
| 1938 | 27 | #1,306 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 30 | #1,229 | 0.03 |
| 1936 | 26 | #1,320 | 0.03 |
| 1935 | 45 | #952 | 0.04 |
| 1934 | 39 | #1,055 | 0.04 |
| 1933 | 38 | #1,073 | 0.04 |
| 1932 | 51 | #912 | 0.05 |
| 1931 | 39 | #1,099 | 0.04 |
| 1930 | 38 | #1,149 | 0.03 |
| 1929 | 46 | #1,004 | 0.04 |
| 1928 | 54 | #926 | 0.05 |
| 1927 | 42 | #1,109 | 0.04 |
| 1926 | 43 | #1,088 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 51 | #954 | 0.05 |
| 1924 | 56 | #942 | 0.05 |
| 1923 | 53 | #951 | 0.05 |
| 1922 | 69 | #817 | 0.06 |
| 1921 | 76 | #770 | 0.07 |
| 1920 | 69 | #811 | 0.06 |
| 1919 | 58 | #876 | 0.06 |
| 1918 | 61 | #850 | 0.06 |
| 1917 | 64 | #792 | 0.07 |
| 1916 | 60 | #801 | 0.07 |
| 1915 | 60 | #784 | 0.07 |
| 1914 | 45 | #793 | 0.07 |
| 1913 | 40 | #744 | 0.08 |
| 1912 | 45 | #621 | 0.10 |
| 1911 | 18 | #789 | 0.08 |
| 1910 | 30 | #520 | 0.15 |
| 1909 | 19 | #634 | 0.12 |
| 1908 | 17 | #654 | 0.11 |
| 1907 | 19 | #585 | 0.13 |
| 1906 | 19 | #544 | 0.14 |
| 1905 | 13 | #695 | 0.10 |
| 1904 | 17 | #561 | 0.13 |
| 1903 | 15 | #593 | 0.13 |
| 1902 | 13 | #643 | 0.11 |
| 1901 | 10 | #722 | 0.09 |
| 1900 | 26 | #454 | 0.17 |
| 1899 | 14 | #545 | 0.13 |
| 1898 | 15 | #568 | 0.12 |
| 1897 | 8 | #842 | 0.07 |
| 1896 | 13 | #634 | 0.11 |
| 1895 | 16 | #525 | 0.14 |
| 1894 | 14 | #564 | 0.12 |
| 1893 | 14 | #533 | 0.12 |
| 1892 | 22 | #413 | 0.18 |
| 1891 | 12 | #558 | 0.12 |
| 1890 | 15 | #508 | 0.14 |
| 1889 | 15 | #493 | 0.14 |
| 1888 | 24 | #383 | 0.20 |
| 1887 | 18 | #404 | 0.18 |
| 1886 | 16 | #467 | 0.14 |
| 1885 | 28 | #326 | 0.26 |
| 1884 | 18 | #446 | 0.16 |
| 1883 | 13 | #519 | 0.12 |
| 1882 | 16 | #465 | 0.14 |
| 1881 | 18 | #410 | 0.18 |
| 1880 | 15 | #477 | 0.14 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Smith a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 5,664 Americans recorded as Smith, 3% are girls and 97% boys. In 2025 it went to 8 girls and 120 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Smith: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Smith, and how old are they?
3,490 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 62% of the 5,664 Americans ever recorded as Smith. The median Smith alive today is 13 years old; half are between 7 and 31.
The 2020 Census counted 4,999 people named Smith (897 women and girls, 4,102 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,919 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.7 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 106 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 257 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 199 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 343 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 737 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,850 |
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 Smith born?
The states with the most babies named Smith are North Carolina, Georgia and Texas, with 51% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 18 | #566 | 1.4× |
| Georgia | 12 | #784 | 1.3× |
| Texas | 8 | #2,053 | 0.6× |
| California | 8 | #1,964 | 0.5× |
| Alabama | 7 | #677 | 0.7× |
| South Carolina | 6 | #728 | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 6 | #1,246 | 0.1× |
| Tennessee | 5 | #1,165 | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 5 | #1,240 | 0.2× |
Where Smith is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Smith is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1910 it was given 1.4 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 Smith 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 5,670 babies since 1880, Smith is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 128 of their 128 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 Smith
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 Smith and names like it
- Compare Smith and SmythBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sSmith peaked in 2016.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Smith since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Smith: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2016The year the most babies were named Smith.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Smith alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with SMost given first.