girl's name
Amy
AY-mee
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 3
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 805,132
the United States
#257
2025 births
Amy is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "beloved," and unusually the name is a past participle — someone who has been loved rather than someone lovable. It ranks 140th in Ireland and 257th in the United States.
- Amy is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 1975, when 32,343 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,763 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Amy over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 2,127 |
| 1890s | 3,042 |
| 1900s | 2,576 |
| 1910s | 4,829 |
| 1920s | 5,275 |
| 1930s | 3,408 |
| 1940s | 5,333 |
| 1950s | 30,631 |
| 1960s | 117,062 |
| 1970s | 269,765 |
| 1980s | 151,187 |
| 1990s | 51,282 |
| 2000s | 28,823 |
| 2010s | 19,775 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 8,369 |
What Amy means
Amy means beloved, from the Latin amata, the feminine past participle of amare, to love. The grammar matters: it describes a state that has been done to someone, not a quality they possess.
Where Amy comes from
Amy comes from the Old French Amée, from the Latin amata, beloved — the past participle of amare. The name entered English with the Normans and has been in continuous use since. Amata in Roman legend is the wife of King Latinus in the Aeneid, who opposes Aeneas's marriage to her daughter and hangs herself. The medieval Amice and Amabel come from the same root by different routes, Amabel giving Mabel. Amy is unrelated to the Japanese Ami and to the Arabic Amina despite the similarities. Its modern English-language peak came in the 1970s, and Amy Winehouse and Louisa May Alcott's Amy March pull the name's associations in very different directions.
Amy in use
Amy ranks 140th in Ireland with 33 births in 2025 and 257th in the United States with 1,200 births, and it is falling in our data from a peak in 1975. Our records carry it from 1880. It appears in every market we hold — 367th in England and Wales, 377th in France, 279th in Scotland — which is the pattern of a name that went international and is now receding at the same rate everywhere.
How popular is Amy?
In 2025, Amy was given to 1,200 babies in the United States, ranking #257 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Amy is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Amy
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Amy also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Amy over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Amy in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Amy
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Amy — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Amy
What does the name Amy mean?
Amy means "beloved," from the Latin amata — the past participle, so someone who has been loved.
Is Amy related to Aimee?
Yes. Aimée is the modern French spelling of the same word.
Is Mabel related?
Yes, by way of Amabel, which comes from the same Latin root.
How popular is Amy?
140th in Ireland and 257th in the United States.
Is Amy a girl's or a boy's name?
Amy is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Amy?
Amy has 2 syllables.
Is Amy a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Amy currently ranks #140 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.