Burr
Masculine · “a seed head with hooks”
Burr is one of those short English words that has quietly taken on three unrelated jobs, and one of them produced a piece of technology that is now in every jacket, every shoe and most hospitals.
How old is the name Burr?
Burr was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Burr alive today was born around 1926, making them about 99 years old. About 200 people named Burr are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Burr most popular?
Burr peaked in 1884, reaching #570 nationally. See the whole 1884 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Burr
A Swiss engineer came home from a walk in the Alps in the nineteen-forties and spent the evening picking burrs out of his dog's coat and his own trousers. Most people have done this. He put one under a microscope, saw that each spine ended in a tiny hook, and spent the next several years working out how to reproduce the arrangement in nylon. The result was two strips, one of hooks and one of loops, and a name made from the French for velvet and hook. The word burr does two other jobs besides. It is the rough ridge left on metal after it has been cut, which is why machinists talk about deburring. And it is the name English gives to a rolled or guttural r in a regional accent, most often a Scottish one, by a route nobody has ever satisfactorily explained.
Meaning
a seed head with hooks
The primary sense is the prickly seed case of burdock and its relatives. The surname behind the American first name is a separate question and is usually traced to the same word or to a place name built on it.
Pronouncing Burr
BUR
One syllable, rhyming with her. There is nothing in it to get wrong.
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 192022 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #570reached in 1884
- Change vs 1971
- −16.7%5 in 1976, from 6
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.
Burrs among us
people named Burr are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Burr sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- One syllable and four letters: impossible to mispronounce, impossible to misspell after one hearing.
- It is a real English word with a documented history rather than a modern invention.
- It is genuinely rare as a first name while being entirely familiar as a sound.
- One American historical figure has owned this surname since the founding era, and a very successful musical has made sure a new generation knows why.
- It reads as a surname to nearly everybody, which some families like and others do not.
- The word also means a prickly thing that sticks to you, and children find that sort of thing quickly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Burr
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Burrs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Burr are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Burr in 2025?
- Burr is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Burr with classmates?
- Burr will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Brian#339 · Benjamin#11 · Brandon#261 · Bryan#336 · Bruce#536 · Billy#1068 · Bobby#1097 · Bradley#403
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Burr? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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