Head to head · Boys' names
Forrest vs Grady
#374 vs #373 in 2025
Grady is a whisker ahead (#373 vs #374 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Grady is holding its place on the charts, Forrest is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Forrest has the edge.
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
The tape is even: Forrest and Grady each lead 3 measures of 6.
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: Forrest #269, Grady #583 — Forrest higher
- 1890s: Forrest #202, Grady #264 — Forrest higher
- 1900s: Forrest #202, Grady #225 — Forrest higher
- 1910s: Forrest #186, Grady #206 — Forrest higher
- 1920s: Forrest #200, Grady #233 — Forrest higher
- 1930s: Forrest #258, Grady #245 — Grady higher
- 1940s: Forrest #294, Grady #291 — Grady higher
- 1950s: Forrest #339, Grady #366 — Forrest higher
- 1960s: Forrest #417, Grady #458 — Forrest higher
- 1970s: Forrest #471, Grady #574 — Forrest higher
- 1980s: Forrest #466, Grady #741 — Forrest higher
- 1990s: Forrest #423, Grady #806 — Forrest higher
- 2000s: Forrest #1020, Grady #512 — Grady higher
- 2010s: Forrest #794, Grady #356 — Grady higher
- 2020s: Forrest #414, Grady #395 — Grady higher
Forrest stood higher in 10 of 15 decades; Grady has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Forrest | Grady |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #269 | #583 |
| 1890s | #202 | #264 |
| 1900s | #202 | #225 |
| 1910s | #186 | #206 |
| 1920s | #200 | #233 |
| 1930s | #258 | #245 |
| 1940s | #294 | #291 |
| 1950s | #339 | #366 |
| 1960s | #417 | #458 |
| 1970s | #471 | #574 |
| 1980s | #466 | #741 |
| 1990s | #423 | #806 |
| 2000s | #1020 | #512 |
| 2010s | #794 | #356 |
| 2020s | #414 | #395 |
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
Forrest
of the forest; someone who lived by or worked in woodland
From Old French forest, itself from Medieval Latin forestis — originally the wood outside the enclosed estate, later the king's wood. The double r is the surname spelling; the single-r Forest is the ordinary English word.
forestis (Medieval Latin) → forest (Old French) → Forrest (English and Scottish surname) → Forrest (American given name)
How it traveled
The word came into English from Old French after the Norman Conquest, and by the Middle Ages it had become a surname across England and Scotland for people who lived beside woodland or held office in it. American families began using that surname as a first name in the nineteenth century, when honoring a family or local name this way was ordinary practice.
Grady
noble, illustrious
The Irish surname Ó Grádaigh is built on grádha, 'noble' or 'illustrious'. The meaning belongs to the ancestor the family was named for, not to the name as a word in its own right.
Ó Grádaigh → O'Grady → Grady
How it traveled
Grady comes from Ó Grádaigh, an Irish surname long associated with Limerick and County Clare, anglicized as O'Grady when English spelling was imposed on Gaelic names. Irish emigration carried it to the United States in the nineteenth century, and there the apostrophe fell away and the surname started appearing in the given-name column — part of a broad American habit of promoting family names to first names.
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
Forrest
FOR-ist
Two syllables, stress on the first — identical to the word forest. Some speakers say FAHR-ist. No one needs it explained twice.
- Forry — The one short form with real use, mostly within families and among people who have known the bearer a long time.
- Fozzy — A playground and teammate nickname rather than anything a person would write down.
Grady
GRAY-dee
Stress on the first syllable. English speakers read it correctly on sight, and the spelling follows the sound with nothing left over.
- Grady — Almost always used in full; at two syllables it needs no shortening, and most bearers never acquire one.
- G — Informal, from friends and teammates rather than family; common to many G- names rather than specific to this one.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Forrest if you want…
- a name on the way upup 88 places on the charts in five years
- a long American recordForrest was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Grady if you want…
- a name holding steadyGrady is holding its place on the charts
- a newer arrivalGrady entered the US charts in 1887
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
Forrest
Strengths
- Pronounced exactly as it looks, because it is an ordinary English word — no correcting strangers, no phonetic spelling on forms.
- An unbroken presence in US records since the charts began, which puts it outside the rise-and-crash cycle that catches newer names.
- A nature name with real age behind it, unlike most of the woodland and weather names that arrived in the last few decades.
To consider
- Forrest and Forest are both real spellings, and the single-r version is the dictionary word, so expect a lifetime of confirming which one. Saying "two r's" becomes automatic fairly quickly.
- The 1994 film Forrest Gump is the first thing many Americans will think of, and quoting it at your child is a fair bet. That association has softened with time but has not gone anywhere.
- Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Confederate cavalry general and first leader of the Ku Klux Klan, is why a good many American boys were given this name in earlier generations. It is worth knowing that some people, particularly in the South, still make the connection.
Grady
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and read correctly at first glance — no dictation over the phone, no alternate spellings to fend off.
- An unbroken record in American use since the nineteenth century, so it belongs to no single decade and dates a child to none.
- Carries a documented Irish surname line, Ó Grádaigh, for families who want an ancestral thread rather than an invented one.
To consider
- Grady is close enough to Brady and Grace that it gets misheard in noisy rooms and over the phone — not misspelled, just mistaken. Most bearers learn to repeat it once and move on.
- It resists shortening. There is no established affectionate form, so a child gets one register at home and at school rather than a formal name and a soft one.
- In the US the record is essentially all boys. A girl named Grady would not be unheard of among surname-names, but she would be doing something the statistics have not yet caught up with.
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 Forrest and Grady in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Forrest and Grady?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Vintage names making a comeback
- Grandmother-chic: 1920s names ready to return
- Nature names in real use
- Names with a double letter
- all guides
Where Forrest and Grady each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Forrest or Grady — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Forrest or Grady?
- Grady, in 2025: Grady ranked #373 with 851 babies; Forrest ranked #374 with 850 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Forrest or Grady?
- Forrest. Over the last five years Forrest moved up 88 places; Grady moved up 26 places.
- Which is the older name, Forrest or Grady?
- Forrest was already in use when US records began in 1880; Grady entered the US charts in 1887. On the American record, Forrest is the older name.
- How many people are named Forrest and Grady?
- About 31,500 people named Forrest are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 33,500 people named Grady are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Forrests or Gradys in the classroom?
- Forrest will almost certainly be the only one in school. Grady 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
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Forrest, Grady and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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