Head to head · Boys' names
Asher vs Cooper
#28 vs #27 in 2025
Cooper is a whisker ahead (#27 vs #28 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Cooper is climbing the charts fast, Asher 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, Cooper leads 4 measures of 6; Asher leads 2.
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: Asher #801, Cooper #855 — Asher higher
- 1890s: Asher #986, Cooper #1064 — Asher higher
- 1900s: Asher —, Cooper #1138 — Cooper higher
- 1910s: Asher #1871, Cooper #1508 — Cooper higher
- 1920s: Asher #2147, Cooper #1970 — Cooper higher
- 1930s: Asher #2337, Cooper #2047 — Cooper higher
- 1940s: Asher #2436, Cooper #2237 — Cooper higher
- 1950s: Asher #2685, Cooper #2521 — Cooper higher
- 1960s: Asher #2483, Cooper #2266 — Cooper higher
- 1970s: Asher #1748, Cooper #2040 — Asher higher
- 1980s: Asher #1061, Cooper #959 — Cooper higher
- 1990s: Asher #867, Cooper #438 — Cooper higher
- 2000s: Asher #348, Cooper #144 — Cooper higher
- 2010s: Asher #86, Cooper #82 — Cooper higher
- 2020s: Asher #25, Cooper #54 — Asher higher
Cooper stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Asher took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Asher | Cooper |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #801 | #855 |
| 1890s | #986 | #1064 |
| 1900s | — | #1138 |
| 1910s | #1871 | #1508 |
| 1920s | #2147 | #1970 |
| 1930s | #2337 | #2047 |
| 1940s | #2436 | #2237 |
| 1950s | #2685 | #2521 |
| 1960s | #2483 | #2266 |
| 1970s | #1748 | #2040 |
| 1980s | #1061 | #959 |
| 1990s | #867 | #438 |
| 2000s | #348 | #144 |
| 2010s | #86 | #82 |
| 2020s | #25 | #54 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Asher
- Canada#47
Cooper
- Canada#77
- Scotland#79
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Asher
Happy, blessed, fortunate
From the Hebrew root associated with happiness and good fortune. Genesis ties the name to Leah's exclamation at the child's birth, a play on the same root.
Asher (Hebrew) → Aser (Greek Septuagint) → Aser (Latin Vulgate) → Osher (Yiddish) → Asher (English)
How it traveled
The name is Hebrew, אָשֵׁר, and belongs first to the eighth son of Jacob in Genesis and then to the tribe descended from him, settled in the north of ancient Israel. When Jewish scholars in Alexandria translated the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, it became Aser, and Latin Bibles kept that form; the Hebrew spelling is what English took up directly.
Cooper
barrel maker
From Middle English couper, a maker of casks and tubs, traceable to Latin cupa 'cask'.
Latin cupa (cask) → Middle English couper → Cooper (English occupational surname) → Cooper (given name)
How it traveled
Before glass and tin, almost everything traveled in a barrel — ale, salt fish, gunpowder, nails — and the cooper was the tradesman who built the containers a whole economy leaned on. The word entered English from the Low Countries and Germany, where the same trade produced the surnames Kuiper and Küper, and by the late medieval period Cooper was already one of the commonest occupational surnames in England.
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
Asher
ASH-er
Stress on the first syllable in English. In Hebrew the stress falls on the second: ah-SHER.
- Ash — The standard short form, informal, and also used on its own as a given name in English.
- Ashy — A family diminutive, used with small children rather than adults.
- Osher — Not a nickname but the Yiddish form of the same name, used as a full given name in Jewish communities.
Cooper
KOO-per
Stress on the first syllable. The spelling gives the sound away, so it survives phone calls and roll call intact.
- Coop — The standard informal short form, used by family, friends and teammates; rarely given as a name on its own.
- Coops — A playful extension of Coop, common in sports and school settings.
Who has carried each name
Asher
Asher Angel (b. 2002) — Shazam!'s young Billy Batson
Cooper
Cooper Flagg (b. 2006) — Basketball phenom taken No. 1 in the NBA draft
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 Asher if you want…
- a name holding steadyAsher is holding its place on the charts
- a long American recordAsher was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 61% for Cooper
Choose Cooper if you want…
- a name on the way upup 48 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooCooper is on the national lists of Canada and Scotland
- a newer arrivalCooper entered the US charts in 1882
- a name that feels very nowCooper is climbing the charts fast
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
Asher
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds. Most people get it right on the first try, reading or hearing it.
- One established short form, Ash, which needs no explanation and works at any age.
- A documented history stretching back to the Hebrew scriptures, with an unbroken written record through Greek, Latin and English Bibles.
To consider
- The great majority of Ashers alive are children. It reads as a name of the present moment rather than one handed down, which may or may not be what you want.
- It sits in a crowded sound-space with Ashton, Asa, Ashley and the surname-name Usher, so expect the occasional mishearing over the phone.
- Ash carries its own associations for some people — Ash Wednesday, a well-known cartoon character — none of them unkind, but worth knowing they exist.
Cooper
Strengths
- One spelling, one pronunciation: almost no American reader hesitates over it, and it needs no correcting in writing or aloud.
- A ready-made short form in Coop, plus the full name for anything formal — two registers without effort.
- Long documented life as an English surname, so it has an unbroken record behind it rather than a recent invention.
To consider
- Its wave is very recent, so nearly everyone carrying it is a child or a young person. That means it reads young now, and will age with this generation rather than sounding established.
- Common enough that a Cooper may share the name with another in a school, though not in every classroom.
- On the girls' side this spelling is genuinely rare, so a girl named Cooper will often be assumed a boy on paper — manageable, but worth expecting.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Asher
40%chance Asher feels dated by 2040
Asher sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Cooper
61%chance Cooper feels dated by 2040
Cooper is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Asher and Cooper 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 that carry both names
- Distinctly American names
- America's top 100 names right now
- Two-syllable names, the American default
- all guides
Every list here names both Asher and Cooper — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Asher or Cooper — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Asher or Cooper?
- Cooper, in 2025: Cooper ranked #27 with 7,472 babies; Asher ranked #28 with 7,456 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Asher or Cooper?
- Cooper. Over the last five years Asher moved up 4 places; Cooper moved up 48 places.
- Which is the older name, Asher or Cooper?
- Asher was already in use when US records began in 1880; Cooper entered the US charts in 1882. On the American record, Asher is the older name.
- How many people are named Asher and Cooper?
- About 110,000 people named Asher are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 122,000 people named Cooper are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Ashers or Coopers in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 9 classrooms will have a child named Asher. Roughly 1 in 9 classrooms will have a child named Cooper.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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