diff --git a/doc/_docstrings/objects.Count.ipynb b/doc/_docstrings/objects.Count.ipynb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a509a68619
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/_docstrings/objects.Count.ipynb
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+{
+ "cells": [
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "89113d6b-70b9-4ebe-9910-10a80eab246e",
+   "metadata": {
+    "tags": [
+     "hide"
+    ]
+   },
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "import seaborn.objects as so\n",
+    "from seaborn import load_dataset\n",
+    "tips = load_dataset(\"tips\")"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "raw",
+   "id": "daf6ff78-df24-4541-ba72-73fb9eddb50d",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "The transform counts distinct observations of the orientation variable defines a new variable on the opposite axis:"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "390f2fd3-0596-40e3-b262-163b3a90d055",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "so.Plot(tips, x=\"day\").add(so.Bar(), so.Count())"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "raw",
+   "id": "813fb4a5-db68-4b51-b236-5b5628ebba47",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "When additional mapping variables are defined, they are also used to define groups:"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "76a4ae70-e914-4f54-b979-ce1b79374fc3",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "so.Plot(tips, x=\"day\", color=\"sex\").add(so.Bar(), so.Count(), so.Dodge())"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "raw",
+   "id": "2973dee1-5aee-4768-846d-22d220faf170",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "Unlike :class:`Hist`, numeric data are not binned before counting:"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "6f94c5f0-680e-4d8a-a1c9-70876980dd1c",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "so.Plot(tips, x=\"size\").add(so.Bar(), so.Count())"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "raw",
+   "id": "11acd5e6-f477-4eb1-b1d7-72f4582bca45",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "When the `y` variable is defined, the counts are assigned to the `x` variable:"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "924e0e35-210f-4f65-83b4-4aebe41ad264",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "so.Plot(tips, y=\"size\").add(so.Bar(), so.Count())"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "0229fa39-b6dc-48da-9a25-31e25ed34ebc",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": []
+  }
+ ],
+ "metadata": {
+  "kernelspec": {
+   "display_name": "py310",
+   "language": "python",
+   "name": "py310"
+  },
+  "language_info": {
+   "codemirror_mode": {
+    "name": "ipython",
+    "version": 3
+   },
+   "file_extension": ".py",
+   "mimetype": "text/x-python",
+   "name": "python",
+   "nbconvert_exporter": "python",
+   "pygments_lexer": "ipython3",
+   "version": "3.10.0"
+  }
+ },
+ "nbformat": 4,
+ "nbformat_minor": 5
+}
diff --git a/doc/api.rst b/doc/api.rst
index 79442157b5..41240f0c34 100644
--- a/doc/api.rst
+++ b/doc/api.rst
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ Stat objects
 
     Agg
     Est
+    Count
     Hist
     Perc
     PolyFit
diff --git a/doc/whatsnew/v0.12.1.rst b/doc/whatsnew/v0.12.1.rst
index 5db8f8644a..2850eaa94e 100644
--- a/doc/whatsnew/v0.12.1.rst
+++ b/doc/whatsnew/v0.12.1.rst
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ v0.12.1 (Unreleased)
 
 - |Feature| Added the :class:`objects.Perc` stat (:pr:`3063`).
 
+- |Feature| Added the :class:`objects.Count` stat (:pr:`3086`).
+
 - |Feature| The :class:`objects.Band` and :class:`objects.Range` marks will now cover the full extent of the data if `min` / `max` variables are not explicitly assigned or added in a transform (:pr:`3056`).
 
 - |Enhancement| |Defaults| The :class:`objects.Jitter` move now applies a small amount of jitter by default (:pr:`3066`).
diff --git a/seaborn/_stats/aggregation.py b/seaborn/_stats/aggregation.py
index 0dffba6455..e1edeb2ece 100644
--- a/seaborn/_stats/aggregation.py
+++ b/seaborn/_stats/aggregation.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ def __call__(
         res = (
             groupby
             .agg(data, {var: self.func})
-            .dropna()
+            .dropna(subset=[var])
             .reset_index(drop=True)
         )
         return res
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ def __call__(
         res = (
             groupby
             .apply(data, self._process, var, engine)
-            .dropna(subset=["x", "y"])
+            .dropna(subset=[var])
             .reset_index(drop=True)
         )
 
diff --git a/seaborn/_stats/histogram.py b/seaborn/_stats/counting.py
similarity index 88%
rename from seaborn/_stats/histogram.py
rename to seaborn/_stats/counting.py
index 59b7b12f2e..84ec2be3c1 100644
--- a/seaborn/_stats/histogram.py
+++ b/seaborn/_stats/counting.py
@@ -1,11 +1,14 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from warnings import warn
+from typing import ClassVar
 
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
+from pandas import DataFrame
 
 from seaborn._core.groupby import GroupBy
+from seaborn._core.scales import Scale
 from seaborn._stats.base import Stat
 
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
@@ -13,6 +16,37 @@
     from numpy.typing import ArrayLike
 
 
+@dataclass
+class Count(Stat):
+    """
+    Count distinct observations within groups.
+
+    See Also
+    --------
+    Hist : A more fully-featured transform including binning and/or normalization.
+
+    Examples
+    --------
+    .. include:: ../docstrings/objects.Count.rst
+
+    """
+    group_by_orient: ClassVar[bool] = True
+
+    def __call__(
+        self, data: DataFrame, groupby: GroupBy, orient: str, scales: dict[str, Scale],
+    ) -> DataFrame:
+
+        var = {"x": "y", "y": "x"}.get(orient)
+        data[var] = data[orient]
+        res = (
+            groupby
+            .agg(data, {var: len})
+            .dropna(subset=["x", "y"])
+            .reset_index(drop=True)
+        )
+        return res
+
+
 @dataclass
 class Hist(Stat):
     """
@@ -167,10 +201,12 @@ def _normalize(self, data):
 
         return data.assign(**{self.stat: hist})
 
-    def __call__(self, data, groupby, orient, scales):
+    def __call__(
+        self, data: DataFrame, groupby: GroupBy, orient: str, scales: dict[str, Scale],
+    ) -> DataFrame:
 
         scale_type = scales[orient].__class__.__name__.lower()
-        grouping_vars = [v for v in data if v in groupby.order]
+        grouping_vars = [str(v) for v in data if v in groupby.order]
         if not grouping_vars or self.common_bins is True:
             bin_kws = self._define_bin_params(data, orient, scale_type)
             data = groupby.apply(data, self._eval, orient, bin_kws)
diff --git a/seaborn/distributions.py b/seaborn/distributions.py
index a4526e0edf..71e22ff036 100644
--- a/seaborn/distributions.py
+++ b/seaborn/distributions.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 # We have moved univariate histogram computation over to the new Hist class,
 # but still use the older Histogram for bivariate computation.
 from ._statistics import ECDF, Histogram, KDE
-from ._stats.histogram import Hist
+from ._stats.counting import Hist
 
 from .axisgrid import (
     FacetGrid,
diff --git a/seaborn/objects.py b/seaborn/objects.py
index 8037cc53ab..d7931666fb 100644
--- a/seaborn/objects.py
+++ b/seaborn/objects.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 
 from seaborn._stats.base import Stat  # noqa: F401
 from seaborn._stats.aggregation import Agg, Est  # noqa: F401
-from seaborn._stats.histogram import Hist  # noqa: F401
+from seaborn._stats.counting import Count, Hist  # noqa: F401
 from seaborn._stats.order import Perc  # noqa: F401
 from seaborn._stats.regression import PolyFit  # noqa: F401
 
diff --git a/tests/_stats/test_histogram.py b/tests/_stats/test_counting.py
similarity index 86%
rename from tests/_stats/test_histogram.py
rename to tests/_stats/test_counting.py
index f70865f0f2..44a0ae752b 100644
--- a/tests/_stats/test_histogram.py
+++ b/tests/_stats/test_counting.py
@@ -6,7 +6,45 @@
 from numpy.testing import assert_array_equal
 
 from seaborn._core.groupby import GroupBy
-from seaborn._stats.histogram import Hist
+from seaborn._stats.counting import Hist, Count
+
+
+class TestCount:
+
+    @pytest.fixture
+    def df(self, rng):
+
+        n = 30
+        return pd.DataFrame(dict(
+            x=rng.uniform(0, 7, n).round(),
+            y=rng.normal(size=n),
+            color=rng.choice(["a", "b", "c"], n),
+            group=rng.choice(["x", "y"], n),
+        ))
+
+    def get_groupby(self, df, orient):
+
+        other = {"x": "y", "y": "x"}[orient]
+        cols = [c for c in df if c != other]
+        return GroupBy(cols)
+
+    def test_single_grouper(self, df):
+
+        ori = "x"
+        df = df[["x"]]
+        gb = self.get_groupby(df, ori)
+        res = Count()(df, gb, ori, {})
+        expected = df.groupby("x").size()
+        assert_array_equal(res.sort_values("x")["y"], expected)
+
+    def test_multiple_groupers(self, df):
+
+        ori = "x"
+        df = df[["x", "group"]].sort_values("group")
+        gb = self.get_groupby(df, ori)
+        res = Count()(df, gb, ori, {})
+        expected = df.groupby(["x", "group"]).size()
+        assert_array_equal(res.sort_values(["x", "group"])["y"], expected)
 
 
 class TestHist: