Whitman
Whitman was given to 33 boys in 2025, #3,507 among boys’ names; 901 Americans have been recorded with it since 1909 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Whitman by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Whitman?
#3,507 among boys’ names, 2025
Whitman rose from #3,586 in 2015 to #3,507 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 16.2 to 19.3 per million.
39 babies in 2018, the peak
Whitman peaked in 2018, when 39 boys were given it, #3,048 among boys’ names. The 33 births of 2025 are 85% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 33 | #3,507 | 19.3 |
| 2024 | 26 | #4,189 | 15.1 |
| 2023 | 28 | #3,993 | 16.4 |
| 2022 | 26 | #4,177 | 14.9 |
| 2021 | 25 | #4,227 | 14.3 |
| 2020 | 29 | #3,724 | 16.8 |
| 2019 | 32 | #3,562 | 17.8 |
| 2018 | 39 | #3,048 | 21.5 |
| 2017 | 36 | #3,246 | 19.4 |
| 2016 | 36 | #3,224 | 19.0 |
Every recorded year (66)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 31 | #3,586 | 16.2 |
| 2014 | 25 | #4,124 | 13.0 |
| 2013 | 35 | #3,182 | 18.5 |
| 2012 | 26 | #3,996 | 13.7 |
| 2011 | 24 | #4,211 | 12.6 |
| 2010 | 24 | #4,231 | 12.5 |
| 2009 | 18 | #5,311 | 9.1 |
| 2008 | 23 | #4,383 | 11.3 |
| 2007 | 23 | #4,363 | 11.1 |
| 2006 | 14 | #6,073 | 6.8 |
| 2005 | 11 | #7,069 | 5.5 |
| 2004 | 14 | #5,792 | 7.1 |
| 2003 | 14 | #5,536 | 7.1 |
| 2002 | 6 | #10,609 | 3.1 |
| 2001 | 16 | #4,877 | 8.2 |
| 2000 | 16 | #4,771 | 8.1 |
| 1999 | 10 | #6,509 | 5.2 |
| 1998 | 8 | #7,519 | 4.2 |
| 1997 | 7 | #8,071 | 3.7 |
| 1996 | 7 | #7,936 | 3.7 |
| 1994 | 5 | #10,187 | 2.6 |
| 1993 | 7 | #7,607 | 3.6 |
| 1992 | 7 | #7,380 | 3.5 |
| 1991 | 5 | #9,596 | 2.5 |
| 1990 | 10 | #5,352 | 4.9 |
| 1989 | 5 | #9,180 | 2.5 |
| 1987 | 9 | #4,942 | 4.8 |
| 1983 | 6 | #6,206 | 3.3 |
| 1981 | 7 | #5,454 | 3.9 |
| 1980 | 6 | #6,219 | 3.4 |
| 1970 | 6 | #4,713 | 3.2 |
| 1969 | 8 | #3,587 | 4.5 |
| 1966 | 5 | #4,525 | 2.8 |
| 1965 | 5 | #4,419 | 2.7 |
| 1954 | 6 | #3,813 | 2.9 |
| 1953 | 6 | #3,782 | 3.0 |
| 1950 | 7 | #3,315 | 3.9 |
| 1949 | 5 | #4,190 | 2.8 |
| 1947 | 5 | #4,250 | 2.7 |
| 1942 | 5 | #4,030 | 3.6 |
| 1940 | 7 | #3,124 | 6.0 |
| 1939 | 8 | #2,823 | 7.2 |
| 1936 | 5 | #4,029 | 4.8 |
| 1931 | 6 | #3,747 | 5.8 |
| 1929 | 7 | #3,546 | 6.5 |
| 1928 | 6 | #4,134 | 5.4 |
| 1924 | 7 | #3,856 | 6.2 |
| 1922 | 6 | #4,295 | 5.5 |
| 1920 | 10 | #2,957 | 9.4 |
| 1919 | 8 | #3,384 | 8.2 |
| 1918 | 10 | #2,870 | 9.9 |
| 1917 | 6 | #3,964 | 6.5 |
| 1916 | 7 | #3,499 | 7.9 |
| 1915 | 6 | #3,818 | 7.1 |
| 1914 | 10 | #2,263 | 15.3 |
| 1909 | 5 | #1,673 | 30.5 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Whitman a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Whitman has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 66 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Whitman: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Whitman, and how old are they?
An estimated 763 Americans named Whitman and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (85% of everyone recorded); the median is 13 years old and half are between 7 and 22. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 703 people named Whitman (14 women and girls, 689 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 618 born in the U.S. The Census count is 14% above 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 that rose and fell in the same decades as Whitman
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 Whitman and names like it
- Compare Whitman and RomeoBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sWhitman peaked in 2018.
- Alabama’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Whitman since 1910.
- The top names of 2018The year the most babies were named Whitman.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Whitman alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with WMost given first.