girl's name
Heather
HETH-er
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 7
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 547,822
Ireland
#337
2025 births
Heather is a girl's name taken directly from the flowering shrub that covers Scottish and northern English moorland. It peaked in 1975 and charts in six of the seven markets we track, holding best in Ireland at 337th.
- Heather is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 1975, when 24,366 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 18,731 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1914.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Heather over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1910s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1910s | 13 |
| 1920s | 27 |
| 1930s | 434 |
| 1940s | 1,841 |
| 1950s | 5,550 |
| 1960s | 32,779 |
| 1970s | 204,534 |
| 1980s | 192,487 |
| 1990s | 71,757 |
| 2000s | 14,001 |
| 2010s | 2,941 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,023 |
What Heather means
Heather means the heather plant, a low evergreen shrub with small purple or white flowers. It is the ordinary English word for the plant, used unchanged as a name.
Where Heather comes from
Heather is the English name of the plant, from the Middle English hather, and its origin before that is uncertain — it may be related to heath, the open ground where it grows, though the vowel does not work cleanly. The plant covers Scottish moorland and carries strong associations with it; white heather in particular is held to be lucky, a belief usually traced to a Victorian romantic story about a Highland bride. The name belongs to the nineteenth-century fashion for flower and plant names that also produced Violet, Ivy, Daisy and Rose, and unlike most of that group it did not peak until the 1970s.
Heather in use
Heather peaked in the United States in 1975, when 24,366 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 337th in Ireland on 12 births, 365th in Scotland on 9, 796th in England and Wales, 1264th in the United States on 177 and 2993rd in France, across 547,822 lifetime births. Its strongest current markets are Ireland and Scotland, which fits a plant name most closely associated with that landscape.
How popular is Heather?
In 2025, Heather was given to 177 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Heather 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 Heather
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Heather also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Heather over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Heather
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.
Heather 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.
- Heath
Sibling names for Heather
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Heather — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Heather
What does the name Heather mean?
The heather plant — a low evergreen shrub of moorland, used unchanged as a name.
Is Heather a Scottish name?
The plant is strongly associated with Scotland, and the name ranks best in Ireland and Scotland, though the word itself is English.
Why is white heather lucky?
A Victorian romantic story about a Highland bride is the usual source of the belief.
How popular is Heather?
1264th in the United States and 337th in Ireland, down from a 1975 peak of 24,366 births.
Is Heather a girl's or a boy's name?
Heather is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Heather?
Heather has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Heather?
Heather is usually shortened to Heddy.
Is Heather a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Heather currently ranks #337 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.