Head to head · Boys' names
Adonis vs Warren
#241 vs #240 in 2025
Warren is a whisker ahead (#240 vs #241 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Warren is back after a long quiet spell, Adonis is holding its place on the charts.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Warren leads 6 measures of 6; Adonis leads 0.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Adonis —, Warren #95 — Warren higher
- 1890s: Adonis —, Warren #115 — Warren higher
- 1900s: Adonis —, Warren #126 — Warren higher
- 1910s: Adonis #4179, Warren #103 — Warren higher
- 1920s: Adonis #3724, Warren #60 — Warren higher
- 1930s: Adonis #3613, Warren #100 — Warren higher
- 1940s: Adonis #3525, Warren #106 — Warren higher
- 1950s: Adonis #2704, Warren #133 — Warren higher
- 1960s: Adonis #2576, Warren #164 — Warren higher
- 1970s: Adonis #1465, Warren #225 — Warren higher
- 1980s: Adonis #1359, Warren #281 — Warren higher
- 1990s: Adonis #883, Warren #395 — Warren higher
- 2000s: Adonis #814, Warren #503 — Warren higher
- 2010s: Adonis #565, Warren #419 — Warren higher
- 2020s: Adonis #215, Warren #305 — Adonis higher
Warren stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Adonis took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Adonis | Warren |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #95 |
| 1890s | — | #115 |
| 1900s | — | #126 |
| 1910s | #4179 | #103 |
| 1920s | #3724 | #60 |
| 1930s | #3613 | #100 |
| 1940s | #3525 | #106 |
| 1950s | #2704 | #133 |
| 1960s | #2576 | #164 |
| 1970s | #1465 | #225 |
| 1980s | #1359 | #281 |
| 1990s | #883 | #395 |
| 2000s | #814 | #503 |
| 2010s | #565 | #419 |
| 2020s | #215 | #305 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Adonis
lord
The Greek name comes from the Semitic title ʼadōn, "lord" — the same root behind Hebrew Adonai. In Greek it stopped being a title and became the name of a single mythological youth.
ʼadōn (Semitic, "lord") → Adōnis (Greek) → Adonis (Latin) → Adonis (English)
How it traveled
Adonis began as a Semitic word for "lord" and crossed into Greek as the name of a beautiful young hunter loved by Aphrodite and killed by a wild boar — a figure worshipped in rites of mourning and renewal around the eastern Mediterranean. The archaic Greek poet Sappho left a surviving fragment lamenting him, and the Romans carried the story on in Latin.
Warren
either "enclosure, game park" or "guard, protect"
Two serious roads lead to the same spelling. One is a place: La Varenne in Normandy, from Old French varenne, an enclosed park where game was kept — the same word that gives English its rabbit warren. The other is the Germanic personal name Warin, built on a root meaning to guard or protect, which came into French as Guarin and Garin. Genealogists have argued for both, and many English Warren families can be traced to one or the other without settling the question for the name as a whole.
Warin → Guarin → Warren (surname) → Warren (given name)
How it traveled
The name arrived in England with the Normans after 1066, carried by families whose surname pointed back to Normandy — either to a place called La Varenne or to an ancestor named Warin. For centuries it stayed a surname, and a well-established one.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Adonis
uh-DON-iss
Also heard as uh-DOH-nis, with a long middle vowel. Modern Greek stresses the first syllable instead: AH-thoh-nees. In Spanish it is ah-DOH-nees.
- Don — Informal short form; also a long-established given name in its own right.
- Addy — Informal, used mostly by family and in early childhood; shared with Adam and Adrian.
- Donnie — Informal and affectionate; stands alone as a given name for older generations.
- Adi — Informal short form, common where the name is used in Spanish-speaking families.
Warren
WOR-en
Stress on the first syllable. Most American speakers say it so the first part matches the word war; in some regions it comes closer to WAHR-en. Both are unremarkable and neither needs correcting.
- Ren — The most common short form in current use, and also a standalone given name in its own right.
- Renny — Informal extension of Ren, mostly used within families.
- W — Initial-only nickname, typical of school and workplace shorthand rather than home use.
Who has carried each name
Adonis
No documented entry for Adonis yet.
Warren
Warren Buffett (b. 1930) — The "Oracle of Omaha" investor
Warren Beatty (b. 1937) — Bonnie and Clyde star and Oscar-winning director
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Adonis if you want…
- a name holding steadyAdonis is holding its place on the charts
- a name with more sound in itAdonis runs 3 syllables, Warren 2
- a newer arrivalAdonis entered the US charts in 1918
Choose Warren if you want…
- a name on the way upup 103 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesWarren is 2 syllables to Adonis's 3
- a long American recordWarren was already in use when US records began in 1880
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Adonis
Strengths
- A spelling almost everyone has already seen, in myth, in Shakespeare, or in the dictionary — rarely needs to be spelled out twice.
- Works unchanged in Spanish, French and Portuguese, which matters in the regions where it is strongest.
- Yields Don and Donnie, short forms that have stood alone as names for generations.
To consider
- In English, "an adonis" is a plain-language term for a very handsome man. Most people will make that connection at least once, and a boy may hear comments about his looks framed by his name — worth knowing in advance.
- The myth itself ends badly: Adonis is gored by a boar and mourned. It is a love story and a death story at the same time, which some families find rich and others would rather not carry.
- Two pronunciations circulate in the US, uh-DON-iss and uh-DOH-nis, so expect to correct people occasionally or simply to accept both.
Warren
Strengths
- One standard spelling that English speakers already read and write correctly on first sight.
- A documented record stretching back to Norman England, first as a surname and then, for well over a century, as a given name.
- Works at every age: it sits comfortably on a toddler, a teenager and an eighty-year-old.
To consider
- It still reads as a name of older generations to many Americans, since the bulk of living Warrens were born decades ago. That is changing, but a young Warren may be the only one of his age anyone knows.
- Warren is also an ordinary English noun — a maze of rabbit tunnels, and by extension any crowded warren of rooms. Most people never think of it, but the word is there.
- It remains a common surname and has been prominent in American public life as one, which can occasionally cause a beat of hesitation about which name is which.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Adonis and Warren in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Three-syllable names with room to move
- Hero and god names for boys
- Names ending in -s
- Names ending in -is
- all guides
Where Adonis and Warren each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Adonis or Warren — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Adonis or Warren?
- Warren, in 2025: Warren ranked #240 with 1,471 babies; Adonis ranked #241 with 1,462 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Adonis or Warren?
- Warren. Over the last five years Adonis moved down 18 places; Warren moved up 103 places.
- Which is the older name, Adonis or Warren?
- Adonis entered the US charts in 1918; Warren was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Warren is the older name.
- How many people are named Adonis and Warren?
- About 21,500 people named Adonis are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 89,500 people named Warren are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Adoniss or Warrens in the classroom?
- Adonis will almost certainly be the only one in school. Warren will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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