How Many People Are Named Gunnar?
An estimated 16,982 people in the United States have the first name Gunnar. It is almost exclusively a male name. The average bearer is 18 years old, and Gunnar peaked in popularity in 2015 with 830 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Gunnar 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 Gunnar paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
16,982
About 1 in 20,183 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Male
99.9% confidence
Average Age
18
years old
Peak Year
2015
830 births
Total Registered
17,715
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Gunnar
Gunnar is almost exclusively a male name. Out of 17,715 total births registered, 99.9% were male.
Gunnar as a male name
Ranked #600 in 2024
474 male births in 2024
Peak: 2015 (825 births)
Gunnar as a female name
Ranked #16,385 in 2019
5 female births in 2019
Peak: 2004 (6 births)
Gunnar: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Gunnar span from the 1890s to the 2020s, covering 14 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 2010s, when 6,697 babies were registered. While Gunnar is less common than at its peak in the 2010s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Gunnar by Decade
How has Gunnar 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.
Gunnar by State
Birth registrations for Gunnar span all 49 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, Texas, Washington. The lowest are in Vermont, Hawaii, Delaware. On average, about 306 Gunnars were registered per state.
Gunnar + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Gunnar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Gunnar
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
Gunnar: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gunnar?
We estimate approximately 16,982 people named Gunnar 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 20,183 Americans share this first name.
Is Gunnar a common name?
Gunnar is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98.3% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 17,715 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Gunnar most popular?
Gunnar reached peak popularity in 2015, when 830 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Gunnar is approximately 18 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Gunnar a male name?
Gunnar is predominantly male. 99.9% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Gunnar Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Gunnar Smith, Gunnar Johnson, Gunnar 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.
Search for a full name combination