Surname Names Names

Family names used as first names. Most began as one of four things: a father's name, a trade, a place, or a nickname — and the trade ones are the easiest to read centuries later.

Rankings for

44 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Harper Harper is a name of English origin meaning "harp player."
English #16 in US
Scarlett Scarlett is a girl's name of English origin, taken from an occupational surname for someone who sold or dyed scarlet cloth.
English #32 in US
Madison Madison is a name of English origin meaning "son of Maud," a medieval surname formed from the woman's name Maud plus -son.
English #40 in US
Paisley Paisley is a girl's name taken from the Scottish town, whose weavers gave their name to the swirling teardrop pattern.
Scottish #67 in US
Addison Addison is a name of English origin meaning "son of Adam."
English #84 in US
Kennedy Kennedy is a name of Irish origin meaning "helmeted head" or "ugly head," from the Gaelic ceann, head, and éidigh.
Irish #85 in US
Everly Everly is a girl's name of English origin, from a place name meaning "boar meadow" — the Old English eofor, a wild boar, and leah, a clearing.
English #91 in US
Kinsley Kinsley is a girl's name of English origin meaning "king's meadow," from the Old English cyning, king, and leah, a clearing.
English #93 in US
Hailey Hailey is a girl's name of English origin meaning "hay clearing," from the Old English heg, hay, and leah, a woodland clearing.
English #104 in US
Hadley Hadley is a girl's name of English origin meaning "heather meadow," from the Old English hæth, heather or heathland, and leah, a clearing.
English #121 in US
Rylee Rylee is a girl's name of Old English origin meaning "rye clearing."
English #137 in US
Emersyn Emersyn is a girl's name of modern American coinage, a respelling of the surname Emerson.
English #138 in US
Sloane Sloane is a girl's name of Irish origin meaning "raider" or "warrior."
Irish #141 in US
Piper Piper is a girl's name of Old English origin meaning "pipe player."
English #155 in US
Ashley Ashley is a name of Old English origin meaning "ash tree clearing."
English #164 in US
Blakely Blakely is a name of Old English origin meaning either "black clearing" or "pale clearing."
English #191 in US
Everleigh Everleigh is a girl's name of modern American coinage, formed by respelling the English surname Everly.
English #194 in US
Saylor Saylor is a girl's name with two separate origins that have converged. As an American surname it usually comes from the German Seiler, a ropemaker, and it is also read as a respelling of the English word sailor.
German #217 in US
Mackenzie Mackenzie means son of Coinneach, and the missing sound is the point — the Gaelic ends in a soft ch that English cannot spell, so the anglicized ending was written as a z that was never pronounced as one.
Scottish #228 in US
Delaney Delaney names a river, not a challenger — the Irish behind it is the dark one of the Slaney, so the dark challenger gloss that appears everywhere online mistakes a place for a fight.
Irish #242 in US
Brooke Brooke is a girl's name from the English word for a small stream.
English #313 in US
Madisson Madisson is a girl's name of English origin, a respelling of Madison.
English #319 in US
Ryleigh Ryleigh is a girl's name of English origin, a modern respelling of Riley.
English #343 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.
English #346 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.
English #348 in US
Mallory Mallory means unlucky, and it is one of very few names built on an insult — the Norman malheuré described someone ill-fated, and it became a surname before anyone used it as a first name.
French #372 in US
Blaire Blaire is a girl's name of Scottish origin meaning "plain" or "field", from the Gaelic blàr.
Scottish #384 in US
Mckenna Mckenna means son of the fire god, and the name is 100 percent female in our records — the Mac is a literal patronymic and Cionaodh names a pre-Christian deity, neither of which has been softened.
Irish #410 in US
Maddison Maddison is a girl's name of English origin meaning "son of Maud."
English #438 in US
Macie Macie is a girl's name of Norman French origin, a respelling of Macy.
Norman French #439 in US
Cassidy Cassidy means curly-haired, from an Irish surname — and Scotland ranks it 416th, above Northern Ireland at 464th and the United States at 541st, with Ireland itself back at 807th.
Irish #541 in US
Mckenzie Mckenzie means son of Coinneach, and the z was never a z — it replaced a lost Scots letter called yogh, so the name has been mispronounced into its own spelling.
Scottish #576 in US
Shelby Shelby is a girl's name from an English place name of Norse formation meaning a willow farm.
English #649 in US
Makenzie Makenzie means son of the handsome one, which is an odd fit for a name that is 99 percent female in our records — the Gaelic Mac is a patronymic, and it has not been reinterpreted.
Scottish #700 in US
Lacey Lacey means from Lassy, a place in Normandy, and Scotland ranks it 308th — its strongest market, ahead of Northern Ireland at 475th and England at 480th, with the United States back at 738th.
French #738 in US
Lindsey Lindsey is a girl's name from a district of Lincolnshire, and it originally meant an island — Lindsey was cut off by marsh and river, so the wetland reading and the island reading describe the same place.
English #1,371 in US
Shirley Shirley is a girl's name from an English place name meaning bright clearing, and it was a boys' name until Charlotte Brontë used it for a heroine in 1849.
English #1,583 in US
Lindsay Lindsay and Lindsey are the same place — a district of Lincolnshire that was effectively an island in fen.
Scottish #2,202 in US
Courtney Courtney is a name from a Norman family whose surname is usually read as short nose, though a place-name derivation competes.
Norman #2,329 in US
Darcie Darcie is a girl's name of Norman French origin meaning "from Arcy."
French #3,563 in US
Kellie Kellie has no settled meaning — the Irish Ceallach has been read as bright-headed, as strife, and as one who frequents churches, and the three readings are not close to reconciling.
Irish #6,236 in US
Kelli Kelli respells Kelly, an Irish surname whose meaning is contested — bright-headed and strife are both proposed for Ó Ceallaigh, and neither has ever been established.
Irish #6,771 in US
Mirren Mirren is a girl's name taken from a male Irish saint, by way of a Scottish football club, and its meaning has never been settled.
Scottish #7,723 in US
Darcey Darcey is a girl's name from the Norman surname d'Arcy, meaning from Arcy in Normandy.
Norman #8,988 in US

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A style is our reading of a name. A decade is the register — the names children were actually given, in order, with the counts.

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