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Baxter

#3,137 in 2025Boys' name

Baker (person who bakes and sells bread, etc), through bæcestre

Baxter has been given to 4,034 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #3,137 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2014, with 74 recorded.

Babies named Baxter, 2025

1 in 87,200

Baxter over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Baxter: meaning, origin, and history

Baker (person who bakes and sells bread, etc), through bæcestre

surname transfer

What Baxter means

Baxter belongs to the name family reached through Baxter → bæcestre. Its meaning is “baker (person who bakes and sells bread, etc)”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Middle English bakster, bakestre, from Old English bæcestre (“baker”), equivalent to bake + -ster.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Baxter (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Baxter is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Baxter comes through Middle English bakster and Old English bæcestre.

Baxter is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include bæcestre.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Baxter is pronounced /ˈbækstɚ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,034 boys were recorded with the name Baxter between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 74 in 2014; its best national rank was #515 in 1886.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,693 in 2020 to #3,137 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,068 in 2015 to #3,137 in 2025.

How common is Baxter?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 87,200
38 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 44,900
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#3,137
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
60,472 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Baxter sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

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.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 60,472 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Baxter. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Baxters were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Baxter was born before 1964 — so the typical Baxter is around 61 today.

Median birth year
1964
About 61 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
15.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
29.8%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,411
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 15.1% of all recorded uses (610).

Is Baxter 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
−87
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−444
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,069
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.56×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
51.4%
Peak was 2014 (74)
Years since peak
11
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
20.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#515
1886

Spellings of Baxter

Baxter is not the most common spelling — Walter is, with 68.0% against Baxter's 0.43%.

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.

Where Baxter is used

Across 2016–2025, Baxter was most concentrated in Maine — about 1 in 8,333 boys, against 1 in 93,666 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in 100,000).

112 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Maine1 in 8,333
  2. 2Kentucky1 in 33,333
  3. 3California1 in 100,000
  4. 4Florida1 in 100,000
  5. 5Michigan1 in 100,000
  6. 6North Carolina1 in 100,000
  7. 7Ohio1 in 100,000
  8. 8Pennsylvania1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Baxter around the world

Where Baxter ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #1,897
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2010–2021
    #720
    in 2021
  • Canada
    2002–2024
    #2,855
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1984–2013
    #499
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Baxter

People whose public names include Baxter, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Baxter by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#3,137
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 444
Best rank ever
#515
1886
Peak year
2014
74 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,034
Count in 2025
38

Names similar to Baxter

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

SlaterBusterKolterWebsterCutterColterFosterWinterPieterAlisterPorterMisterVesterKutterKarterSutterJeterMasterDexterCoulterGunterLusterJupiterBaxton

Names with a curve like Baxter

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Baxter, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

PriceConleyLawtonCollinsSampsonEnosMaconAngusOrrinDempseyOrinGraydon

Sibling names for Baxter

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Baxter

Top names of 2014, Baxter's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1886Boys' names starting with BOccupational Names