Recorded 1880–2025 · United States
Palmer was most popular in 2025, when 1,560 American babies were given the name — ranking #436 that year. In 2025 it ranked #436, with 1,560 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 18,653 people named Palmer.
The Social Security Administration’s records begin in 1880, and Palmer is already there in that first year — so the name is older than the record and these figures cannot date it. It has been recorded in 145 of the 146 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 18,653 American births named Palmer 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 14,370 are estimated to be alive today.
1,560 American babies were named Palmer in 2025, ranking #436 that year.
Palmer is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 1,370 births a year, against 252 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +445% 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 Palmer is a unisex name — 50.3% of the 18,653 Americans given it were girls and 49.7% were boys. It changed hands: since 2012 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 81% girls and 19% 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 14,370 Americans named Palmer are alive today — 77% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 6 years old, and half are between 3 and 13. That is a narrow band because Palmer is a young name — it only became common recently, so almost everyone carrying it is still a child or a young adult.
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 Palmer on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org