Recorded 1882–2025 · United States
Woody was most popular in 1946, when 116 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,320 that year. In 2025 it ranked #16,070, with 10 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 4,246 people named Woody.
Woody first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1882, which makes it about 143 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 121 of the 144 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 4,246 American births named Woody 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 2,667 are estimated to be alive today.
10 American babies were named Woody in 2025, ranking #16,070 that year.
Woody is too rare for a direction to mean much. It averaged 14 births a year across 2021–2025 against 9 a year a decade earlier — at these counts a single baby moves the percentage, and any year under five births is withheld at source.
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 Woody is a boy’s name — 0.2% of the 4,246 Americans given it were girls and 99.8% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 0% girls and 100% 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 2,667 Americans named Woody are alive today — 63% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 61 years old, and half are between 44 and 73.
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 Woody on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org