How Many People Are Named Forest?
An estimated 9,502 people in the United States have the first name Forest. It is predominantly male (96.8%). The average bearer is 37 years old, and Forest peaked in popularity in 2022 with 391 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Forest as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Forest paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Forest is overwhelmingly male, 580 female births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
9,502
About 1 in 36,072 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Rare
Predicted Gender
Male
96.8% confidence
Average Age
37
years old
Peak Year
2022
391 births
Total Registered
18,013
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Forest
Forest is predominantly male (96.8%), though 580 female births have been registered. It functions as a unisex name for a small percentage of bearers.
Forest as a male name
Ranked #724 in 2024
361 male births in 2024
Peak: 2022 (375 births)
Forest as a female name
Ranked #6,221 in 2024
19 female births in 2024
Peak: 1994 (27 births)
Forest: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Forest span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1920s, when 2,650 babies were registered. While Forest is less common than at its peak in the 1920s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Forest by Decade
How has Forest tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
| Decade | Total | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 298 | 298 | 0 | |
| 1890s | 538 | 470 | 68 | |
| 1900s | 563 | 541 | 22 | |
| 1910s | 2,223 | 2,125 | 98 | |
| 1920s | 2,650 | 2,562 | 88 | |
| 1930s | 1,509 | 1,493 | 16 | |
| 1940s | 1,291 | 1,276 | 15 | |
| 1950s | 1,050 | 1,037 | 13 | |
| 1960s | 784 | 779 | 5 | |
| 1970s | 783 | 758 | 25 | |
| 1980s | 809 | 787 | 22 | |
| 1990s | 1,543 | 1,467 | 76 | |
| 2000s | 657 | 657 | 0 | |
| 2010s | 1,495 | 1,448 | 47 | |
| 2020s | 1,820 | 1,735 | 85 | |
Forest by State
Birth registrations for Forest span all 37 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, Ohio, Texas. The lowest are in Maryland, New Jersey, Idaho. On average, about 282 Forests were registered per state.
Forest + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Forest as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Forest
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
Forest: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Forest?
We estimate approximately 9,502 people named Forest are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 36,072 Americans share this first name.
Is Forest a common name?
Forest is classified as "Rare" and is more popular than 97.6% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 18,013 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Forest most popular?
Forest reached peak popularity in 2022, when 391 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Forest is approximately 37 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Forest a male name?
Forest is predominantly male. 96.8% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Forest Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Forest Smith, Forest Johnson, Forest Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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