Given name & surname
Portland
“from the land near the port”
Portland is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “from the land near the port.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “from the land near the port.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is English.
How it developed
From Latin portus, from Proto-Italic *portus, from Proto-Indo-European *pértus, from Proto-Indo-European *per-.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1958. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Portland through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 265
- 93 boys · 172 girls
- Most popular year
- 2021
- 24 babies
- 2025
- 8
- #11,681 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −7%
- Steady
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 8 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 11,681 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 5.0% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 302 as a first name in 2020; 108 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.
People named Portland
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Portland, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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