Bates
#9,824 in 2025Boys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Bates has been given to 158 babies in the U.S. since 1919. In 2025 it ranked #9,824 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2014, with 17 recorded.
Babies named Bates, 2025
1 in 474,000
Bates over time, 1880–2025
Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
How common is Bates?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 474,000
- 7 of 3,315,165 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 244,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2025
- #9,824
- of 13,926 boys’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 328,272 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Bates sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 328,272 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Bates. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Batess were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Bates was born before 2014 — so the typical Bates is around 11 today.
- Biggest decade
- 2010s
- 42.4% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 69.6%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 115
- People you could plausibly meet
2010s — 42.4% of all recorded uses (67).
Is Bates rising or falling?
Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.
- Rank vs 1 year ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- New entry
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- −986
- Places dropped
- Births vs 10 years ago
- 0.88×
- Fewer babies than then
- Share of its own peak
- 41.2%
- Peak was 2014 (17)
- Years since peak
- 11
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 39.0% average annual change
Spellings of Bates
Bates is not the most common spelling — James is, with 96.0% against Bates's <0.01%.
Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.
Bates by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
Names similar to Bates
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Bates
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.