Watt
Watt was last recorded in 1971, when 5 babies were given it; 444 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 1971 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Watt by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Watt mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Watt is “a diminutive of the male given name Walter, of medieval usage, variant of Wat.”
Also “an Anglo-Saxon given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Watt?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #5,635, in 1971; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
15 babies in 1920, the peak
Watt peaked in 1920, when 15 boys were given it, #2,225 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 5 | #5,635 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 5 | #4,615 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 5 | #4,641 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 6 | #3,974 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 8 | #3,165 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 5 | #4,314 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 6 | #3,717 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 8 | #3,014 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 7 | #3,287 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 10 | #2,606 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (56)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | 8 | #3,087 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 5 | #3,764 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,858 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 7 | #3,223 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 9 | #2,705 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 7 | #3,123 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 10 | #2,475 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 7 | #3,104 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 5 | #3,995 | under 0.01 |
| 1935 | 8 | #2,937 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 5 | #4,181 | under 0.01 |
| 1933 | 8 | #2,997 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 11 | #2,459 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 6 | #3,743 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 7 | #3,579 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 14 | #2,194 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 10 | #2,836 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 8 | #3,435 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 14 | #2,299 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 15 | #2,185 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 10 | #3,016 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 10 | #2,932 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 11 | #2,790 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 6 | #4,303 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,225 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 11 | #2,658 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 11 | #2,692 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 9 | #2,945 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 11 | #2,533 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 13 | #2,174 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 5 | #3,742 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 6 | #2,799 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 5 | #2,891 | 0.01 |
| 1910 | 6 | #1,582 | 0.03 |
| 1909 | 6 | #1,432 | 0.04 |
| 1906 | 5 | #1,404 | 0.04 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,307 | 0.04 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,282 | 0.04 |
| 1893 | 6 | #1,024 | 0.05 |
| 1892 | 6 | #1,060 | 0.05 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,174 | 0.04 |
| 1885 | 7 | #831 | 0.06 |
| 1884 | 6 | #967 | 0.05 |
| 1882 | 12 | #574 | 0.11 |
| 1881 | 8 | #700 | 0.08 |
| 1880 | 7 | #806 | 0.06 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Watt a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Watt has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 56 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Watt: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Watt, and how old are they?
An estimated 70 Americans named Watt and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026, too few to state an age range. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 205 people named Watt (9 women and girls, 196 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 98 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.1 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.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 525 babies since 1880, Watt is the most given (85% 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 Watt
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 Watt and names like it
- Compare Watt and WattsBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sWatt peaked in 1920.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Watt.
- Names starting with WMost given first.