Recorded 1910–2025 · United States
Montana was most popular in 1998, when 678 American babies were given the name — ranking #774 that year. In 2025 it ranked #1,490, with 356 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 12,855 people named Montana.
Montana first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1910, which makes it about 115 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 84 of the 116 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 12,855 American births named Montana between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 12,442 are estimated to be alive today.
356 American babies were named Montana in 2025, ranking #1,490 that year.
Montana is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 306 births a year, against 156 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +96% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Montana is a unisex name — 68.6% of the 12,855 Americans given it were girls and 31.4% were boys. It changed hands: since 1986 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 61% girls and 39% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 12,442 Americans named Montana are alive today — 97% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 25 years old, and half are between 14 and 30.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Montana on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org