How Many People Are Named Whitney?
An estimated 97,124 people in the United States have the first name Whitney. It is predominantly female (94.2%). The average bearer is 36 years old, and Whitney peaked in popularity in 1986 with 9,781 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Whitney 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 Whitney paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- Whitney has undergone a significant gender shift. Originally given predominantly to boys, it is now more commonly a girls' name.
- Whitney has fallen dramatically from its peak in the 1980s. Recent registrations are less than 5% of what they were at the name's height.
Estimated Living Americans
97,124
About 1 in 3,529 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
94.2% confidence
Average Age
36
years old
Peak Year
1986
9,781 births
Total Registered
103,403
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Whitney
Whitney is predominantly female (94.2%), though 5,979 male births have been registered. It functions as a unisex name for a small percentage of bearers.
Whitney as a male name
Ranked #6,786 in 2024
13 male births in 2024
Peak: 1986 (245 births)
Whitney as a female name
Ranked #1,050 in 2024
238 female births in 2024
Peak: 1986 (9,536 births)
Whitney: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Whitney span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1980s, when 46,001 babies were registered. Whitney has declined significantly from its peak in the 1980s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Whitney by Decade
How has Whitney 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 | 17 | 17 | 0 | |
| 1890s | 21 | 21 | 0 | |
| 1900s | 59 | 59 | 0 | |
| 1910s | 334 | 334 | 0 | |
| 1920s | 434 | 434 | 0 | |
| 1930s | 357 | 327 | 30 | |
| 1940s | 511 | 416 | 95 | |
| 1950s | 628 | 506 | 122 | |
| 1960s | 2,933 | 786 | 2,147 | |
| 1970s | 5,837 | 834 | 5,003 | |
| 1980s | 46,001 | 1,629 | 44,372 | |
| 1990s | 33,187 | 301 | 32,886 | |
| 2000s | 7,328 | 146 | 7,182 | |
| 2010s | 4,415 | 92 | 4,323 | |
| 2020s | 1,341 | 77 | 1,264 | |
Whitney by State
Birth registrations for Whitney span all 51 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in Texas, California, Tennessee. The lowest are in Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware. On average, about 1,917 Whitneys were registered per state.
Whitney + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Whitney as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Whitney
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
Whitney: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Whitney?
We estimate approximately 97,124 people named Whitney 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 3,529 Americans share this first name.
Is Whitney a common name?
Whitney is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 99.5% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 103,403 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Whitney most popular?
Whitney reached peak popularity in 1986, when 9,781 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Whitney is approximately 36 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Whitney a female name?
Whitney is predominantly female. 94.2% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Whitney Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Whitney Smith, Whitney Johnson, Whitney 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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