boy's name
Atlas
AT-lus
- Origin Greek
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 100 (US)
- Births on record 31,112
the United States
#75
2025 births
Atlas is a boy's name from Greek myth, where Atlas is the Titan condemned to hold up the sky. The book of maps takes its name from him too — sixteenth-century collections carried his image on the title page, and the name transferred to the genre.
- Atlas is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 2025, when 4,558 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 727 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1883.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Atlas 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 | 5 |
| 1890s | 6 |
| 1900s | 12 |
| 1910s | 155 |
| 1920s | 170 |
| 1930s | 110 |
| 1940s | 90 |
| 1950s | 58 |
| 1960s | 50 |
| 1970s | 32 |
| 1980s | 44 |
| 1990s | 76 |
| 2000s | 250 |
| 2010s | 6,645 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 19,523 |
What Atlas means
Atlas is usually glossed as "bearer" or "enduring one," from a Greek root meaning to bear or suffer. The common description of him holding up the world is a later distortion: in the myth he holds up the sky, not the earth.
Where Atlas comes from
Atlas comes from the Greek Atlas, generally connected to tlēnai, to bear or endure. In myth he is a Titan punished after the war against the Olympians by being made to hold up the heavens at the western edge of the world — the Atlas Mountains of Morocco are named for him, as is the Atlantic Ocean, the sea beyond Atlas. The book sense dates to Gerardus Mercator, whose posthumously published collection of maps in 1595 carried the figure on its frontispiece; rival publishers copied the convention and atlas became the ordinary word for a book of maps. The first vertebra of the spine is also called the atlas, because it supports the skull.
Atlas in use
Atlas holds up the sky in the myth, not the world — and gives his name to a mountain range, an ocean, a book of maps and a vertebra.
How popular is Atlas?
In 2025, Atlas was given to 4,558 babies in the United States, ranking #75 that year. It is one of the most popular names in the United States.
Where Atlas 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 Atlas
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Atlas also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Atlas over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Sibling names for Atlas
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Atlas — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Atlas
What does the name Atlas mean?
Atlas is usually glossed as "bearer" or "enduring one," from a Greek root meaning to bear.
Did Atlas hold up the world?
No — in the myth he holds up the sky. The version with the globe is a later distortion.
Why is a book of maps called an atlas?
Mercator's 1595 map collection carried the Titan on its frontispiece, and the name transferred to the genre.
How popular is the name Atlas?
In 2025, Atlas was given to 4,558 babies in the United States, ranking #75 that year. It is one of the most popular names in the United States.
Is Atlas a girl's or a boy's name?
Atlas is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Atlas?
Atlas has 2 syllables.
When was Atlas most popular?
Atlas peaked in 2025, when 4,558 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
Is Atlas a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Atlas currently ranks #75 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.