Given name & surname
Fox
“resembling the animal”
Fox is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “resembling the animal.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “resembling the animal.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is English.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1888. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Fox through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 3,988
- 3,891 boys · 97 girls
- Most popular year
- 2016
- 339 babies
- 2025
- 129
- #1,411 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −30%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 129 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 1,411 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 30.6% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 327 in 2016. In 2025, California had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (20). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,998 as a first name in 2020; 149,757 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Fox’s family of names
In English usage, Fox as a surname has a nickname in FOXY. In English usage, Fox as a surname shares a linguistic root with the German form FUCHS. Fox has a related form in Foxan.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Fox has relatives in 5 languages. Lines run from its English roots to each of them.
Nicknames & forms 10
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Foxxvariant
- Foxynickname · English
- Füchslevariant · German
- Foxynvariant
- Foxinvariant
- Foxunvariant
- Foxonvariant
- Foxanvariant
Show 2 moreShow fewer
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 6
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Fox
- Fox Maule-Ramsay, 11th Earl of DalhousieBritish politician (1801-1874)
- Fox ConnerUnited States Army general (1874-1951)
- Fox HarrisAmerican actor (1936-1988)
- Fox ButterfieldAmerican journalist, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winnerborn 1939
Characters named Fox: Fox Mulder (fictional character and protagonist of the television series The X-Files).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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If you love Fox, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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