Adler
Masculine · Old High German roots · “eagle”
Adler is given to both — 3,758 boys and 398 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Adler is the German word for eagle, and for centuries it hung over doorways before it sat on anyone's passport — medieval German townhouses were identified by painted signs, and the households at the sign of the eagle took the name with them. It reached America with German-speaking families and lived there for generations as a surname; its life as a first name is much newer. Two syllables, one obvious stress, and a spelling most English speakers read correctly at first sight.
How old is the name Adler?
Adler first appears in US birth records in 1985 — 40 years ago. The typical Adler is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,700 people named Adler are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Adler most popular?
Adler peaked in 2025, reaching #871 nationally. Today it ranks #871, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From adel + ar (Old High German elements) to Adler
The story of Adler
Adler began as a German word and became a German name in two ways. House signs in medieval and early-modern German towns gave families their identifying names, and those living at the sign of the eagle became Adler; the eagle was also the emblem of the Holy Roman Empire, which kept the image everywhere in German-speaking Europe. When Ashkenazi Jewish families in the Habsburg lands and Prussia were required to register fixed surnames around the turn of the nineteenth century, Adler was among the ornamental names widely chosen, and it remains strongly associated with both German and Jewish family history. German-speaking migration carried it to the United States, where it has since crossed the familiar American road from surname to given name.
Meaning
eagle
German Adler, from Middle High German adelar, a compound of adel 'noble' and ar 'eagle' — so 'noble eagle' at its oldest, simply 'eagle' in modern German.
How the name formed
- adel + arOld High German elements
- adelarMiddle High German, 'noble eagle'
- AdlerGerman surname and word for eagle
- AdlerAmerican given name
Related forms: Adler · Adler (אַדלער) · Ádler
Pronouncing Adler
AD-ler
Stress on the first syllable, with the flat 'a' of 'add'. German speakers say it closer to AHD-lah, with a long first vowel and a softened ending.
Nicknames for Adler
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1985
- Most boys named
- 2025275 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #871reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +18.0%275 in 2025, from 233
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Adler in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Adler in German — same name
- Adler (אַדלער) in Yiddish — transliteration
- Ádler in Hungarian — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Indiana, Texas, Illinois.
Adlers among us
people named Adler are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 6,211 born in 2025 was named Adler
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Boris test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Adler's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Boris climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Boris's path sketches the road Adler is walking now.
Adler 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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Adler is headed
Adler should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Adler beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Adler in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The spelling is the ordinary German word and surname, so it needs no explanation in writing and is almost never respelled.
- One clear reading from the page: AD-ler, with no competing English pronunciation to correct.
- A concrete, undisputed meaning — eagle — traceable through Middle High German rather than guessed at.
- Documented for centuries as a family name across German-speaking Europe and in American records, long before it was given to children.
- It still reads as a surname to many ears, and it carries a well-known association with the Viennese school of psychology. Some people will assume it is a family name being honored — which it often is.
- Short forms are not settled. Ad and Addie exist, but Adler mostly gets used whole, which suits some families and frustrates others.
- Its life as a first name is recent, so nearly everyone carrying it in the US is still young; there is no generation of grown Adlers to hear it on yet.
- In speech it can be misheard as Adley or Addison, both of which are currently in wider use for girls, so expect the occasional correction.
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What they receive
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Adler
Masculine · Old High German roots · #871 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Adlers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,700 people named Adler are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Adler in 2025?
- Adler ranks #871 among US boy names in 2025, with 275 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Adler?
- About 1 in every 6,211 US boys born in 2025 was named Adler — 275 in all.
- Will my child share the name Adler with classmates?
- Adler will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Adler
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aryan#871 · Orlando#871 · Joey#874 · Abner#874 · Coast#874 · Jedidiah#874 · Alessio#867 · Edison#867
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Adler? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Adler and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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