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

Benson Benson is a boy's name of English origin meaning "son of Ben", where Ben is a medieval short form of Benedict rather than of Benjamin.
Boy English #279 in US
Colt Colt is a boy's name taken from the English word for a young male horse, from the Old English colt.
Boy English #285 in US
Kash Kash is a boy's name with two unrelated sources.
Boy English #286 in US
Meadow Meadow is a girl's name from the English word for grassland, whose root means "to mow" — so a meadow is defined by being cut.
Girl English #286 in US
Cash Cash is a boy's name of English origin meaning a maker of boxes or cases.
Boy English #287 in US
Poppy Poppy is a girl's name of Latin origin taken from the flower, whose name comes from the Latin papaver.
Girl English #292 in US
Blake Blake is a name of Old English origin with two opposite meanings.
Boy English #296 in US
Holden Holden is a boy's name of English origin meaning "deep valley".
Boy English #297 in US
Sonny Sonny is a boy's name of English origin meaning exactly what it looks like — son.
Boy English #298 in US
Preston Preston means the priest's settlement — land held by the church rather than by a lord, which is why so many English places carry the name.
Boy English #299 in US
Clayton Clayton means the settlement on clay, from an English place name that describes the ground it stood on.
Boy English #300 in US
Evelynn Evelynn is a girl's name of Norman French origin, a modern respelling of Evelyn with a doubled N.
Girl English #301 in US
Kimberly Kimberly is a girl's name that reached America by way of a South African diamond town, which was itself named after a British colonial secretary.
Girl English #302 in US
Remington Remington is a unisex name of English origin, a place name meaning the settlement by the boundary stream.
Unisex English #307 in US
Harlow Harlow is a unisex name from an Essex place name meaning "army hill," most likely a mound where a Saxon assembly met rather than a battlefield.
Unisex English #309 in US
Banks Banks is a boy's name of English origin meaning someone who lived by a slope or a riverbank.
Boy English #310 in US
Colson Colson is a boy's name of English origin meaning "son of Col", where Col is a medieval short form of Nicholas.
Boy English #311 in US
Brooke Brooke is a girl's name from the English word for a small stream.
Girl English #313 in US
Madisson Madisson is a girl's name of English origin, a respelling of Madison.
Girl English #319 in US
Marley Marley is a name of Old English origin meaning "boundary wood" or "pleasant meadow."
Unisex English #322 in US
Navy Navy is a unisex name taken from the English word for a fleet, which comes through French from the Latin navis, a ship.
Unisex English #327 in US
Kendall Kendall means the valley of the River Kent, and Scotland ranks it 309th — above the United States at 329th, which is unusual for a name whose modern use is almost entirely American.
Unisex English #329 in US
Paxton Paxton is a boy's name of English origin meaning "Pæcc's farmstead".
Boy English #338 in US
Miley Miley is a girl's name best known from Miley Cyrus, whose own was a nickname from smiley.
Girl English #338 in US
Emory Emory is a unisex name of Germanic origin, a variant of Emery.
Unisex English #339 in US
Marshall Marshall began as a stable hand — the word meant a horse servant, and it climbed to become the highest rank in several armies.
Boy English #340 in US
Leighton Leighton is a unisex name of English origin meaning "herb garden settlement".
Unisex English #342 in US
Ryleigh Ryleigh is a girl's name of English origin, a modern respelling of Riley.
Girl English #343 in US
Wade Wade means a river crossing, and there is a second Wade entirely — a Germanic sea giant from Old English legend whose story Chaucer refers to as though everyone knew it, and which is now lost.
Boy English #344 in US
Sterling Sterling is a unit of money that became a name, and the coin was probably named for a bird — the little star on early Norman pennies gives one account, and a starling stamped on them gives the other.
Boy English #345 in US
Paige Paige is a girl's name from a medieval job title meaning a young male servant, and it reached women by way of a surname.
Girl English #346 in US
Wells Wells is a boy's name of English origin meaning someone who lived by a spring.
Boy English #347 in US
Sydney Sydney is a name from a French place name — Saint-Denis, contracted by English speakers — and the Australian city was named after a man who bore it.
Girl English #348 in US
Kade Kade is a boy's name of English origin, a modern respelling of Cade.
Boy English #349 in US
Hope Hope is a girl's name of Old English origin taken from the virtue, from hopian.
Girl English #352 in US
Briggs Briggs is a boy's name of English origin meaning someone who lived by a bridge.
Boy English #356 in US
Franklin Franklin means a freeholder — a man who owned his land but held no noble rank, a specific medieval class.
Boy English #359 in US
Spencer Spencer is a name of Middle English origin meaning "steward" or "dispenser of provisions."
Boy English #360 in US
Miller Miller is a unisex name of English origin, the occupational surname for someone who ground grain into flour.
Unisex English #369 in US
Forrest Forrest is one of only two names in this group our data marks as rising, and it is on its second life — American births ran 490 in 2018 and 862 in 2025, having collapsed from a 1994 peak twenty years before.
Boy English #374 in US
Vanessa Vanessa was invented by Jonathan Swift around 1713, built from the name of a woman he was writing to — and it later became the name of a genus of butterflies.
Girl English #377 in US
Clark Clark means a clergyman, and the job drifted — a clericus was in holy orders, but since the clergy were the ones who could write, the word slid across to mean anyone who kept records, which is what a clerk still is.
Boy English #378 in US
Ivory Ivory is a unisex name taken from the material, whose word comes through French and Latin from an Egyptian word for elephant.
Unisex English #378 in US
Lawson Lawson is a boy's name of English origin meaning "son of Law", where Law is a medieval short form of Lawrence.
Boy English #381 in US
Winston Winston is a boy's name of English origin meaning "Wine's settlement", from an Old English personal name plus tun.
Boy English #382 in US
Baylor Baylor is a unisex name of English origin whose meaning is unsettled.
Unisex English #386 in US
Londyn Londyn is a girl's name, a respelling of the city of London.
Girl English #388 in US
Sunny Sunny is a unisex name taken from the English word, from the Old English sunne.
Unisex English #389 in US

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