Wade

Boys’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Wade was given to 948 boys in 2025, #344 among boys’ names; 76,666 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 56,900 Americans named Wade and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (74% of everyone recorded); the median is 46 years old and half are between 21 and 60.

Babies named Wade each year, first recorded in 1880

Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).

Wade or Wayde Names of the 1970s Names in Texas

Births of Wade by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

What does Wade mean?

Wiktionary, English section

Wade is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the sense “a ford” (wæd).

From Old English wæd (“a ford”).

/weɪd/

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Wade (English), CC BY‑SA 4.0. Quoted from the entry; text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out.

Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).

How popular is Wade?

#344 among boys’ names, 2025

Wade rose from #519 in 2015 to #344 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.29 to 0.56 per 1,000.

1,430 babies in 1970, the peak

Wade peaked in 1970, when 1,430 babies were given it (1,423 boys, #189 among boys’ names). The 948 births of 2025 are 66% of that peak.

Wade by year
Year	Births	Rank	Per 1,000 boys
2025	948	#344	0.56
2024	1,010	#341	0.59
2023	977	#341	0.57
2022	953	#344	0.55
2021	1,018	#326	0.58
2020	944	#341	0.55
2019	999	#335	0.56
2018	917	#361	0.50
2017	902	#367	0.49
2016	791	#406	0.42

Every recorded year (146)

Year	Births	Rank	Per 1,000 boys
2015	555	#519	0.29
2014	509	#544	0.26
2013	486	#549	0.26
2012	470	#555	0.25
2011	462	#552	0.24
2010	415	#599	0.22
2009	402	#620	0.20
2008	426	#592	0.21
2007	486	#529	0.23
2006	454	#555	0.22
2005	486	#507	0.24
2004	463	#519	0.23
2003	403	#558	0.20
2002	414	#539	0.21
2001	464	#495	0.24
2000	496	#474	0.25
1999	494	#462	0.26
1998	507	#447	0.27
1997	554	#419	0.29
1996	593	#399	0.31
1995	527	#435	0.28
1994	553	#416	0.29
1993	592	#388	0.30
1992	686	#349	0.34
1991	703	#344	0.35
1990	778	#323	0.38
1989	776	#308	0.39
1988	777	#296	0.41
1987	731	#293	0.39
1986	727	#287	0.39
1985	650	#314	0.35
1984	666	#299	0.37
1983	601	#318	0.34
1982	663	#300	0.37
1981	647	#300	0.36
1980	735	#285	0.41
1979	764	#270	0.44
1978	776	#262	0.47
1977	889	#236	0.54
1976	1,009	#210	0.64
1975	1,126	#197	0.72
1974	1,119	#197	0.71
1973	1,110	#198	0.71
1972	1,053	#210	0.65
1971	1,156	#206	0.65
1970	1,423	#189	0.77
1969	1,364	#193	0.76
1968	1,125	#208	0.65
1967	1,244	#192	0.71
1966	1,359	#183	0.76
1965	1,300	#194	0.70
1964	1,375	#202	0.69
1963	1,407	#206	0.69
1962	1,204	#222	0.58
1961	1,247	#221	0.59
1960	1,241	#224	0.58
1959	1,230	#221	0.58
1958	1,148	#228	0.54
1957	1,141	#225	0.53
1956	1,077	#224	0.51
1955	836	#242	0.41
1954	755	#255	0.37
1953	664	#270	0.34
1952	599	#284	0.31
1951	552	#294	0.29
1950	529	#297	0.30
1949	473	#312	0.27
1948	486	#309	0.28
1947	490	#314	0.27
1946	475	#297	0.29
1945	381	#306	0.28
1944	411	#294	0.30
1943	400	#310	0.28
1942	371	#318	0.27
1941	395	#293	0.32
1940	411	#275	0.35
1939	346	#303	0.31
1938	305	#314	0.27
1937	310	#303	0.29
1936	300	#308	0.29
1935	329	#301	0.32
1934	306	#311	0.30
1933	295	#314	0.30
1932	305	#313	0.29
1931	300	#314	0.29
1930	298	#319	0.27
1929	310	#313	0.29
1928	355	#298	0.32
1927	377	#295	0.33
1926	343	#306	0.31
1925	333	#312	0.30
1924	385	#293	0.34
1923	337	#312	0.31
1922	347	#306	0.32
1921	384	#287	0.35
1920	367	#295	0.34
1919	333	#296	0.34
1918	324	#311	0.32
1917	317	#295	0.34
1916	328	#285	0.37
1915	266	#321	0.31
1914	250	#281	0.38
1913	179	#298	0.35
1912	181	#261	0.42
1911	78	#303	0.35
1910	75	#281	0.39
1909	69	#267	0.42
1908	37	#388	0.24
1907	69	#253	0.47
1906	57	#262	0.43
1905	64	#245	0.48
1904	57	#256	0.44
1903	46	#277	0.39
1902	40	#307	0.33
1901	62	#222	0.58
1900	56	#276	0.37
1899	62	#212	0.58
1898	63	#222	0.51
1897	53	#242	0.47
1896	63	#229	0.53
1895	39	#288	0.33
1894	54	#236	0.47
1893	53	#238	0.47
1892	54	#243	0.44
1891	38	#264	0.38
1890	51	#235	0.46
1889	42	#259	0.38
1888	50	#250	0.41
1887	39	#260	0.38
1886	61	#218	0.55
1885	54	#225	0.50
1884	51	#239	0.45
1883	54	#204	0.52
1882	64	#202	0.56
1881	52	#214	0.52
1880	56	#215	0.51

Download Wade’s births by year (CSV)

Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.

Is Wade a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Wade has been given almost only to boys: 168 girls in 146 years of records.

Girls and boys named Wade: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.

How many people are named Wade, and how old are they?

56,900 alive in 2026, estimated

That is 74% of the 76,666 Americans ever recorded as Wade. The median Wade alive today is 46 years old; half are between 21 and 60.

The 2020 Census counted 50,704 people named Wade (155 women and girls, 50,549 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 54,530 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% below that prediction.

Alive today, by age

100-1096

90-99211

80-891,290

70-793,990

60-699,760

50-5910,300

40-49 (median)6,610

30-396,430

20-294,640

10-194,960

0-98,610

Alive today, by generation

By generation
Generation	Born	Alive
Silent Generation	1928-1945	1,270
Baby Boomers	1946-1964	11,800
Generation X	1965-1980	15,500
Millennials	1981-1996	10,200
Generation Z	1997-2012	7,280
Generation Alpha	2013-2025	10,900

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 Wade born?

The states with the most babies named Wade are Texas, California and North Carolina, with 20% of its births recorded by state since 1910.

States with the most births: girls and boys together; rank among boys’ names in the state in 2025
State	Since 1910	Rank, boys	vs. national
Texas	5,128	#434	0.9×
California	4,690	#564	0.6×
North Carolina	4,541	#199	2.1×
Pennsylvania	3,085	#377	0.8×
Ohio	2,947	#271	0.8×
Florida	2,549	#360	1.0×
Georgia	2,420	#385	1.1×
Illinois	2,397	#444	0.6×
Michigan	2,258	#320	0.8×
Minnesota	2,243	#336	1.5×

Where Wade is more common than its national share predicts

Relative to its national share, Wade is most over-represented in North Dakota: since 1910 it was given 2.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.

North Dakota2.55×

South Dakota2.24×

Montana2.19×

North Carolina2.07×

South Carolina1.89×

Utah1.86×

Idaho1.85×

Minnesota1.47×

Bars start at 1× (as often as the national share predicts).

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 Wade 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 78,981 babies since 1880, Wade is the most given (97% of them). In 2025 it was given to 948 of their 996 babies (95%), again the most given.

Wade and the names spelled alike
Name	Since 1880	Births 2025	Peak year
Wade	76,666	948	1970
Wayde	2,304	48	1959
Waide	11	under 5	1929

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 Wade

Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.

Name	Recorded	1880-2025
Clay	40,525
Byron	82,541
Vance	27,150

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 Wade and names like it

Compare Wade and WaydeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
The most given names of the 1970sWade peaked in 1970.
Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Wade since 1910.
From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Wade: every such name, by how often it is given.
The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Wade.
The names of Generation XMost people named Wade alive today were born 1965-1980.
Names starting with WMost given first.

Compare Wade with another name