boy's name
Apollo
uh-POL-oh
- Origin Greek
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 3
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 9,871
the United States
#446
2025 births
Apollo is a boy's name of Greek origin naming the god of light, music, prophecy and healing. His own name has no agreed derivation — it may not be Greek at all, and the ancient explanations are folk etymologies.
- Apollo is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 2022, when 820 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 4,683 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1965.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Apollo over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1960s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1960s | 21 |
| 1970s | 135 |
| 1980s | 263 |
| 1990s | 144 |
| 2000s | 512 |
| 2010s | 3,445 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 4,492 |
What Apollo means
Apollo has no established meaning. Greek writers connected it to words for destroying and for assembling, but those are guesses at a name already ancient in their own time, and it may be a borrowing from Anatolia.
Where Apollo comes from
Apollo is attested in Mycenaean Greek and its root is unresolved. Ancient writers proposed apollymi, to destroy, and apella, an assembly, both of which read as attempts to explain a name whose origin was already lost; modern scholarship considers a Hittite or Luwian source at least as likely, which would make the most Greek of gods an import. He governed an unusually wide portfolio — light, music, poetry, prophecy at Delphi, archery and healing — and unlike most Olympians he kept his own name in Roman use rather than being matched to a local god. NASA's lunar program gave the name a second life. It appears in our records from 1965.
Apollo in use
Apollo charts in only four of the seven countries we track and peaked in 2022.
How popular is Apollo?
In 2025, Apollo was given to 708 babies in the United States, ranking #446 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Apollo 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 Apollo
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Apollo also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Apollo over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Apollo
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Apollo 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 Apollo
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Apollo — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Apollo
What does the name Apollo mean?
It is unresolved. Ancient Greek explanations are folk etymologies, and the name may be a borrowing from Anatolia.
What was Apollo the god of?
Light, music, poetry, prophecy, archery and healing — an unusually wide portfolio.
Did the Romans rename Apollo?
No. Unlike most Greek gods he kept his own name in Roman use rather than being matched to a local deity.
How popular is the name Apollo?
In 2025, Apollo was given to 708 babies in the United States, ranking #446 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Apollo a girl's or a boy's name?
Apollo is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Apollo?
Apollo has 3 syllables.
When was Apollo most popular?
Apollo peaked in 2022, when 820 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Apollo?
Apollo is usually shortened to Polo.
Is Apollo a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Apollo currently ranks #446 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.