Conway
Masculine · “either the Welsh river-name Conwy”
Conway is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 2,921 boys against 11 girls since 1880.
Conway comes down two roads at once — from the Welsh river Conwy, guarded since the 1280s by Edward I's castle at its mouth, and from a handful of Irish family names that English clerks flattened into this one spelling. It has been on American birth records since the earliest years such records were kept, and it says itself on sight: two plain syllables, no puzzle in them.
How old is the name Conway?
Conway first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Conway alive today was born around 1977, making them about 48 years old. About 1,900 people named Conway are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Conway most popular?
Conway peaked in 1881, reaching #866 nationally. Today it ranks #1287, 421 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Where it comes from
From Conwy to Conway
The story of Conway
In Wales, Conwy names a river and the walled town at its estuary, one of the towns Edward I fortified during his conquest of Gwynedd in the 1280s; the castle still stands. In Ireland, Conway is not one name but a bundle — several unrelated Gaelic surnames that English-speaking record keepers rendered with the same spelling, so bearers on that side may share nothing but the anglicization. Both lines crossed to America in the nineteenth century, and both fed the habit of turning family surnames into first names for sons. Conway also became a place name here — towns in Arkansas, South Carolina and New Hampshire — and the country singer born Harold Lloyd Jenkins built his stage name, Conway Twitty, out of two of them.
Meaningscholars disagree
either the Welsh river-name Conwy, or one of several Irish surnames including a word for hound
On the Welsh side it is a place name: the river Conwy in the north, whose own older meaning is not settled. On the Irish side, Conway is an anglicization of more than one Gaelic surname — among them Ó Conbhuidhe, read as 'yellow hound', and Mac Conmidhe, read as 'hound of Meath'. Which line a given family carries usually depends on which coast they left from.
How the name formed
- Conwy
- Conway
Related forms: Conwy · Ó Conbhuidhe · Mac Conmidhe
Pronouncing Conway
KON-way
Two even syllables with the stress on the first. Nobody has to be told twice, and the spelling gives no trouble in English.
Nicknames for Conway
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
- 1881
- Most boys named
- 2025152 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #866reached in 1881
- Change vs 2023
- +50.5%152 in 2025, from 101
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.
Conway in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Conwy in Welsh — related form
- Ó Conbhuidhe in Irish — related form
- Mac Conmidhe in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Florida.
Conways among us
people named Conway are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 11,237 born in 2025 was named Conway
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Conway is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Conway is headed
Conway looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 24% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium 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.
Conway beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Conway in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled exactly as it sounds, and short enough to fit any form or signature without a nickname stepping in.
- Documented on both sides of the Irish Sea and in American place names, so it has a real history rather than a coined one.
- Present in US records since the earliest years they were compiled, and still being given now — familiar without being everywhere.
- Offers ready short forms in Con and Connie if a shorter name is ever wanted.
- Country-music listeners of a certain vintage will hear Conway Twitty first. That association is affectionate rather than awkward, but it is instant for some people and invisible to others.
- It is still very much a surname elsewhere — a common Irish family name and a town in three states — so it may occasionally be filed as a last name or a place rather than a first name.
- Bearers are thin on the ground, weighted toward older generations and toward the South. A child named Conway will do a fair amount of gentle explaining that this is, in fact, his first name.
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What they receive
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Conway
Masculine · #1287 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Conways are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,900 people named Conway are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Conway in 2025?
- Conway ranks #1287 among US boy names in 2025, with 152 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Conway?
- About 1 in every 11,237 US boys born in 2025 was named Conway — 152 in all.
- Will my child share the name Conway with classmates?
- Conway will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Conway
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Cristiano#1287 · Rudra#1287 · Maison#1290 · Titan#1290 · Asiah#1290 · Amarion#1290 · Achilles#1290 · Anas#1290
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Conway? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Conway and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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