unisex name
Halo
HAY-loh
- Origin Greek
- Gender Unisex
- Syllables 2
- Letters 4
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 5,939
the United States
#612
2025 births
Halo is a unisex name taken from the ring of light, whose Greek root halos meant a threshing floor — the circular patch of ground where oxen trod in circles to separate grain. The shape gave the word to the sky.
- Halo is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 2024, when 827 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 4,542 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 2000.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Halo over time
Births per decade in the United States, 2000s 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 |
|---|---|
| 2000s | 303 |
| 2010s | 1,828 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,381 |
What Halo means
Halo names a circle of light around a head or a heavenly body. Its root is agricultural and entirely earthbound: the round threshing floor worn by animals walking in circles.
Where Halo comes from
Halo comes through Latin from the Greek halos, a threshing floor — a flat circular area where grain was beaten or trodden from the ear by oxen walking round and round. Greek astronomers borrowed the word for the ring of light sometimes visible around the sun or moon, on the strength of the shape alone, and Christian art later took it for the circle around a saint's head. As a given name it is very recent, appearing in our records from 2000, and its use is split between the religious sense and the video game series that began in 2001.
Halo in use
Halo first appears in our records in 2000 and peaked in 2024.
How popular is Halo?
In 2025, Halo was given to 730 babies in the United States, ranking #612 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Halo 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 Halo
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Halo also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Halo over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Halo 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.
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Haylo
Sibling names for Halo
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Halo — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Halo
What does the name Halo mean?
A ring of light. The Greek halos originally meant a threshing floor — the circular ground where oxen trod out grain.
Is Halo a boy's or a girl's name?
Both, though it is given more often to girls.
How new is the name Halo?
It first appears in the birth records we hold in 2000.
How popular is the name Halo?
In 2025, Halo was given to 730 babies in the United States, ranking #612 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
How many syllables are in Halo?
Halo has 2 syllables.
When was Halo most popular?
Halo peaked in 2024, when 827 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
Is Halo a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Halo currently ranks #612 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.