boy's name · in the US
Banks
BANKS (English)
- Origin English
- Gender Boy (US)
- Syllables 1
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 7,417
the United States
#310
2025 births
Banks is a boy's name of English origin meaning someone who lived by a slope or a riverbank. It comes from the Old Norse bakki, brought into English by Scandinavian settlement, with the S marking the place rather than a father's name.
- Banks is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 2025, when 1,188 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,791 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1883.
- 1 syllable, with the stress on syllable 1.
Banks Over Time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, which so far covers 2020 to 2025.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 13 |
| 1890s | 5 |
| 1900s | 14 |
| 1910s | 93 |
| 1920s | 147 |
| 1930s | 87 |
| 1940s | 60 |
| 1950s | 48 |
| 1960s | 15 |
| 1970s | 10 |
| 1980s | 13 |
| 1990s | 40 |
| 2000s | 216 |
| 2010s | 1,094 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 5,115 |
What Banks Means
Banks describes where a family lived — beside a bank, whether the rising ground of a hillside or the edge of a river. It is a topographic surname, naming the landscape rather than a trade or an ancestor.
Where Banks Comes From
Banks comes from the Middle English banke, borrowed from the Old Norse bakki, a ridge or riverbank, one of a great many everyday English words that arrived with Scandinavian settlement in the north and east. Topographic surnames of this kind were among the earliest to form, since a neighbor is most easily identified by where they live. The final S is locative rather than possessive: it marks at the banks, not son of Bank. As a first name Banks is modern and American, part of the same movement that brought Brooks, Rivers and Reed into use.
Banks in Use
Banks appears in birth records from 1883 and reached its highest recorded use in 2025.
How Popular Is Banks?
In 2025, Banks was given to 1,188 babies in the United States, ranking #310 that year. It ranks among the top 1,000 names in the United States.
Where Banks 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 Banks
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents Who Like Banks Also Like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Banks over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Boys' or Girls' Name?
Banks is used differently depending on where you are. Each figure is the share of babies given the name who were girls, over the last ten years of that country's records.
- United States Boys' 9% girls · 5,780 babies
- Canada Both 15% girls · 347 babies
- England & Wales Boys' 7% girls · 100 babies
How to Say Banks
- English BANKS /bæŋks/
Sibling Names for Banks
Names from the same era that do not rhyme or share an initial with Banks — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common Questions About Banks
What does the name Banks mean?
Someone who lived by a bank — a slope or a riverbank — from the Old Norse bakki.
Is Banks a boy's or a girl's name?
It is given almost entirely to boys.
Does the name Banks have anything to do with money?
No. The surname names a landscape feature. The financial sense of bank came into English separately from Italian.
How popular is the name Banks?
In 2025, Banks was given to 1,188 babies in the United States, ranking #310 that year. It ranks among the top 1,000 names in the United States.
How many syllables are in Banks?
Banks has 1 syllable.
When was Banks most popular?
Banks peaked in 2025, when 1,188 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
Is Banks a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Banks currently ranks #310 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.