Recorded 1881–2025 · United States
Waverly was most popular in 2021, when 387 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,413 that year. In 2025 it ranked #1,956, with 244 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 6,550 people named Waverly.
Waverly first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1881, which makes it about 144 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 135 of the 145 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 6,550 American births named Waverly 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 5,318 are estimated to be alive today.
244 American babies were named Waverly in 2025, ranking #1,956 that year.
Waverly is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 324 births a year, against 105 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +208% 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 Waverly is a unisex name — 69.7% of the 6,550 Americans given it were girls and 30.3% were boys. It changed hands: since 1994 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 99% girls and 1% 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 5,318 Americans named Waverly are alive today — 81% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 9 years old, and half are between 5 and 24.
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 Waverly on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org