Recorded 1988–2025 · United States
Wisdom was most popular in 2025, when 221 American babies were given the name — ranking #2,067 that year. In 2025 it ranked #2,067, with 221 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 2,189 people named Wisdom.
Wisdom first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1988, which makes it about 37 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 36 of the 38 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 2,189 American births named Wisdom 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 2,169 are estimated to be alive today.
221 American babies were named Wisdom in 2025, ranking #2,067 that year.
Wisdom is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 135 births a year, against 75 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +80% 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 Wisdom is a unisex name — 47.6% of the 2,189 Americans given it were girls and 52.4% were boys. It changed hands: since 2025 it has gone mainly to boys, having gone mainly to girls before that. In births since 2016 it is 42% girls and 58% 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 2,169 Americans named Wisdom are alive today — 99% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 10 years old, and half are between 4 and 18.
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 Wisdom on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org