How we build every profile.

Each profile can include a short introduction, the name’s origin, its meaning, how it developed, its history, its family of related names, and how often it is given. We only publish a section when our sources support it. When a meaning isn’t established, we say so rather than guess.

Some explanations come directly from the name’s own entry. Others come through its name family: a familiar form like Jake can share Jacob’s story. When that happens, the profile says so. Different naming traditions that happen to share a spelling are kept apart, and debated interpretations are labeled as such.

• 195,000+ in-depth profiles
• 129,000+ names with a recorded meaning
• 1,110,000+ names linked to relatives
• 105,000+ spellings in U.S. birth records

The score runs from 0 to 100 and reflects how common a spelling was among U.S. births in 2025, on a logarithmic scale where 100 is the most-given name of the year. A log scale keeps the difference between 5 and 50 babies as visible as the difference between 5,000 and 50,000.

Popularity describes use, never value. A rare name is not a lesser name — and a popular one is popular for a reason.

• 85+Very common — Among the most-used names today.
• 70+Common — You’ll likely meet others with this name.
• 55+Familiar — Recognizable, without being everywhere.
• 40+Uncommon — Known, but rarely shared in a classroom.
• 20+Rare — Given to relatively few babies each year.
• 1+Very rare — Only a handful of recorded births each year.
• 0Not recently recorded — No published U.S. births in the latest year.

Every name carries its balance of boys and girls in its colors: blue for boys, rose for girls, and a blend where a name is shared. The balance comes from U.S. births over the last ten years; where birth data is thin, it comes from recorded usage in reference sources. Exact percentages always appear in text alongside the color.

• Jacob
  99.9% boys
• Rowan
  72% boys
• Quinn
  50% boys
• Emerson
  30% boys
• Hazel
  0.4% boys