Given name & surname

Pope

“the father”

Pope is used as a given name and a surname. One Greek interpretation is “the father.”

Original GreekΠόπε

Meaning & origin

What it means

One Greek interpretation is “the father.”

Where it comes from

An origin associated with this spelling is Greek.

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1914. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.

From dated birth records

Pope through the years

Babies since 1880
89
89 boys · 0 girls
Most popular year
1918
12 babies
2025
11
#7,553 for boys
2021–25 vs 2016–20
—
Too few births to compare
051015192019401960198020002025Highest share 19186.4
Pope in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1914–2025, per million boys born. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

By the numbers

In 2025, this name appeared in 11 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 7,553 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for boys was 12 in 1918. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 160 as a first name in 2020; 61,177 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.

Pope’s family of names

In Greek usage, Pope as a surname is a transliteration of Πόπε.

Walk Pope’s family in the name graph

PopeΠόπεПопов

Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Spellings & scripts 1

The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.

Across languages 1

Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.

People named Pope

Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.

Similar names

If you love Pope, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

Greek · Old-fashioned

Porfirio

“refers to a purple coloring”

13Very rareEasing

>99% boys

Greek · Old-fashioned

Giles

“resembling a young goal”

17Very rareEasing

>99% boys

Greek

Anatole

“born with the break of day”

11Very rare

>99% boys

German · Old-fashioned

Odell

“a sweet melody” · “one who is wealthy”

24RareEasing

98% boys · 2% girls

Greek · Literary

Ode

“traveler of the road” · “a lyric poem”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

Greek · Literary

Homer

“a tomboyish woman” · “of the pledge; an epic poet”

23RareRising

>99% boys

Greek · Old-fashioned

Isadore

“a gift from the goddess Isis”

20RareEasing

80% boys · 20% girls

Greek · Old-fashioned

Isidore

“a gift of Isis”

27RareRising fast

>99% boys

Sibling ideas

Names that share Pope’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Pope

A sister for Pope