boy's name
Junior
JOON-yer
- Origin Latin
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 49,246
the United States
#752
2025 births
Junior is a boy's name from the Latin for younger, used first as a suffix marking a son who shares his father's name and only later as a name in its own right. It charts in all seven markets and peaked back in 1927.
- Junior is a name of Latin origin.
- Peaked in 1927, when 1,607 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 9,666 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1882.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Junior 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 | 23 |
| 1890s | 59 |
| 1900s | 162 |
| 1910s | 1,800 |
| 1920s | 13,048 |
| 1930s | 8,065 |
| 1940s | 3,810 |
| 1950s | 2,375 |
| 1960s | 1,535 |
| 1970s | 948 |
| 1980s | 1,213 |
| 1990s | 1,913 |
| 2000s | 3,340 |
| 2010s | 2,795 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,096 |
What Junior means
Junior means younger. It is the comparative form of the Latin iuvenis, young, so the sense is younger than someone else rather than young in itself — a relative term that became a name.
Where Junior comes from
Junior is the Latin iunior, the comparative of iuvenis, young. Its career as a name runs backwards from the usual direction: it began as a distinguishing tag appended to a son bearing his father's name, in the English-speaking legal and commercial record from at least the seventeenth century, and only became a given name when the tag was heard often enough to stand alone. That transfer is well recorded in the United States, where families using the suffix produced sons known as Junior in everyday speech regardless of what the birth certificate said. The name is genuinely independent now — the great majority of boys registered as Junior have no father of the same name.
Junior in use
Junior ranks 190th in Scotland on 23 births, 326th in Northern Ireland, 503rd in England and Wales on 77, 752nd in the United States on 343, 977th in France and 999th in Ireland — all seven markets we track. It peaked in the United States in 1927, when 1,607 babies were registered, and is stable in our data across 49,246 lifetime births going back to 1882. Almost a century after its peak it is still charting in every market, which is rare for a name that high-water mark old.
How popular is Junior?
In 2025, Junior was given to 343 babies in the United States, ranking #752 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Junior 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 Junior
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Junior also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Junior over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Junior
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.
Junior 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.
- Junius
Sibling names for Junior
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Junior — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Junior
What does the name Junior mean?
Younger — it is the comparative of the Latin iuvenis, young.
Is Junior a real first name?
Yes. It began as a suffix marking a son named for his father, and became a name in its own right when the tag was used as a name in speech.
Do boys named Junior have fathers with the same name?
Usually not. The name is independent now and most bearers are not named after a father.
How popular is Junior?
190th in Scotland, and it charts in all six markets we track.
How many syllables are in Junior?
Junior has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Junior?
Junior is usually shortened to June and Jr.
Is Junior a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Junior currently ranks #190 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.