English Names

English names are rarely English all the way down. The language absorbed Norse from settlement, French from conquest and Latin from the church, so a name that arrived as a plain English word — a trade, a place, a colour — usually rests on a root borrowed from somewhere else. What makes them English is the layer they settled in, not the layer underneath. The largest single group on this site, and the one that includes almost every surname now used as a first name.

Languages behind these names Old English Latin Germanic Greek Hebrew uncertain

Rankings for

448 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Stetson Stetson is a name of English origin meaning "son of Stephen."
Boy English #136 in US
Rylee Rylee is a girl's name of Old English origin meaning "rye clearing."
Girl English #137 in US
Emersyn Emersyn is a girl's name of modern American coinage, a respelling of the surname Emerson.
Girl English #138 in US
Beckett Beckett is a boy's name of Old English origin, most likely meaning "bee cottage" or "stream."
Boy English #141 in US
Greyson Greyson is a boy's name of English origin meaning "son of the steward."
Boy English #149 in US
Summer Summer is a girl's name of Old English origin taken from the season, from sumor.
Girl English #152 in US
Ember Ember is a girl's name of Old English origin taken from the word for a glowing coal, from æmyrge.
Girl English #154 in US
Piper Piper is a girl's name of Old English origin meaning "pipe player."
Girl English #155 in US
Jaxson Jaxson is a boy's name of modern American coinage, a respelling of Jackson.
Boy English #156 in US
Oakley Oakley is a name of Old English origin meaning "oak clearing" or "oak meadow."
Unisex English #156 in US
Colter Colter is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "horse keeper."
Boy English #157 in US
Hayden Hayden is a name of Old English origin meaning "hay valley" or "hedged hill."
Unisex English #161 in US
Hayes Hayes is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "hedged enclosure."
Boy English #162 in US
Ashley Ashley is a name of Old English origin meaning "ash tree clearing."
Girl English #164 in US
Beckham Beckham is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "homestead by the stream."
Boy English #168 in US
Braxton Braxton is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "Bracc's settlement."
Boy English #172 in US
Tucker Tucker is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "cloth fuller."
Boy English #181 in US
Sutton Sutton is a name of Old English origin meaning "southern settlement."
Unisex English #181 in US
Cole Cole is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "coal-black" or "swarthy."
Boy English #183 in US
Tatum Tatum is a name of Old English origin meaning "Tata's homestead."
Unisex English #189 in US
Haven Haven is a name of Old English origin meaning "harbor" or "place of safety."
Unisex English #190 in US
Blakely Blakely is a name of Old English origin meaning either "black clearing" or "pale clearing."
Girl English #191 in US
Legend Legend is a boy's name taken directly from the English word, which comes from the Latin legenda, meaning "things to be read."
Boy English #193 in US
Everleigh Everleigh is a girl's name of modern American coinage, formed by respelling the English surname Everly.
Girl English #194 in US
Ashton Ashton is a name of Old English origin meaning "ash tree settlement."
Unisex English #197 in US
Peyton Peyton is a name of Old English origin meaning "Pæga's settlement."
Unisex English #199 in US
Kingston Kingston is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "the king's settlement."
Boy English #204 in US
Camden Camden is a boy's name of English origin meaning "enclosed valley."
Boy English #205 in US
Bentley Bentley means the bent-grass clearing, and its rise is one of the sharpest we record — American births went 666 in 2009 to 4,009 in 2010, a six-fold jump in a single year.
Boy English #215 in US
Baker Baker is a boy's name of English origin, an occupational surname for someone who baked bread.
Boy English #217 in US
Tyler Tyler is a boy's name from a medieval trade — a man who laid roof tiles — and the leader of the Peasants' Revolt carried it as a job description.
Boy English #220 in US
Jane Jane is a girl's name from the Hebrew for God is gracious, the English feminine of John.
Girl English #221 in US
Edward Edward is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "wealthy guardian."
Boy English #224 in US
Presley Presley is a unisex name of English origin meaning "priest's meadow".
Unisex English #225 in US
Wren Wren is a name of Old English origin taken from the bird, from wrenna.
Unisex English #231 in US
Palmer Palmer is a unisex name of English origin meaning a pilgrim, specifically one who had returned from the Holy Land carrying a palm frond as proof of the journey.
Unisex English #232 in US
Shepherd Shepherd is a boy's name of English origin, the occupational surname for someone who tended sheep.
Boy English #246 in US
Cade Cade is a boy's name of English origin taken from a medieval surname.
Boy English #248 in US
Lane Lane means a narrow way between hedges, and it is one of only two names in this sweep our data marks as rising — it peaked in 2019 and stands at 250th in the United States on 1,495 births.
Boy English #250 in US
Faith Faith is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "trust" or "belief," one of the virtue names the Puritans put into use in the sixteenth century.
Girl English #254 in US
Nash Nash is a boy's name of English origin meaning "at the ash tree".
Boy English #255 in US
Crew Crew is a boy's name taken from the English word for a group working together, which comes through French from a Latin verb meaning to grow.
Boy English #256 in US
Amy Amy is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "beloved," and unusually the name is a past participle — someone who has been loved rather than someone lovable.
Girl English #257 in US
Journee Journee is a girl's name taken from the English word journey, respelled to look like the French journée.
Girl English #258 in US
Brandon Brandon is a boy's name from an English place name meaning broom-covered hill, often confused with the Irish Brendan.
Boy English #261 in US
Aspen Aspen is a unisex name of English origin taken from the tree, whose leaves tremble in the slightest wind.
Unisex English #266 in US
Karter Karter is a unisex name of English origin, a respelling of Carter, the occupational surname for someone who drove a cart.
Unisex English #270 in US
Juliet Juliet is thirteen in the play, and Shakespeare says so twice — the Nurse gives her age precisely, which most productions quietly ignore and most readers never notice.
Girl English #274 in US

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