The story in the numbers

774,451 boys have been named Scott in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1971, with 30,902 births — 1.7% of all boys recorded that year.

The name has all but left use: 517 births in 2024, against 30,902 at the peak.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1969, and the 1960s alone account for 34%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 47 of them in the top 100 and 1 in the top 10.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 2,608 girls have also been given it, 0.34% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

By decade

Decade

boys named Scott

484

380

348

1,284

1,908

1,976

12,162

111,821

266,823

194,543

108,149

49,019

16,237

6,889

2,428

In 1971, its biggest year

Scott was the 10th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1971 were Michael, James, David, John and Robert. See all of 1971.

Names that rose and fell with Scott

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.