Corey
Masculine
Corey is given to both — 185,020 boys and 9,056 girls since 1880. See Corey as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Corey arrives in the first-name world by way of a surname, which is how a great many American boys' names got here — a family label lifted out of the record books and given to a child. It has been on the US charts continuously since the years just after the First World War, riding high through the seventies and eighties before easing off. Two syllables, both open and unhurried: KOR-ee.
How old is the name Corey?
Corey first appears in US birth records in 1919 — 106 years ago. The typical Corey alive today was born around 1988, making them about 37 years old. About 175,000 people named Corey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Corey most popular?
Corey peaked in 1977, reaching #52 nationally. Today it ranks #778, 726 places below that high. See the whole 1977 chart.
Corey appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Kóri to Corey
The story of Corey
Corey and Cory turn up first as surnames in England and Ireland — in England traced to the Old Norse name Kóri carried in by Norse settlers, in Ireland as an anglicized spelling of Ó Comhraidhe. Like Casey, Riley and Kelsey, it crossed from family name to first name in the United States, where surname-names were treated as fair game for babies far earlier than in Britain. It appeared on the US charts in the years after the First World War and climbed steadily for half a century, cresting in the seventies. It has been given to girls too, most often in the spellings Cori and Kori, though the boys' side has always been the larger one.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Two roads compete, and both are genuinely documented as sources of the surname. English Corey and Cory have been traced to the Old Norse personal name Kóri, whose own meaning is not established. Separately, Corey serves as an anglicization of the Irish surname Ó Comhraidhe. A third line connects it to Gaelic coire, 'cauldron' — the same word behind the Scottish 'corrie', a hollow scooped into a hillside. No one reading has won out.
How the name formed
- Kóri
- Coreysurname
- Coreygiven name
Related forms: Cory · Korey · Kory · Cori · Ó Comhraidhe · Corrie
Pronouncing Corey
KOR-ee
Rhymes with 'story'. Stress on the first syllable, and no regional variation to speak of in American English.
Nicknames for Corey
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
- 1919
- Most boys named
- 19907,692 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #52reached in 1977
- Change vs 2023
- −24.0%327 in 2025, from 430
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.
Corey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cory in English — spelling variant
- Korey in English — spelling variant
- Kory in English — spelling variant
- Cori in English — spelling variant
- Ó Comhraidhe in Irish — related form
- Corrie in Scottish Gaelic — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Coreys among us
people named Corey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 5,223 born in 2025 was named Corey
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Corey
- #778
- Corey on the 2025 chart
- #586
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Corey went to 327 boys in 2025, but Korey is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 374, which makes it the 586th most-given boys’ name of the year — 192 places above the chart.
- Corey327
- Korey47
About 1 boy in 4,567 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 5,223 for Corey itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Philip test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Corey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Philip climbed just as high around 1941, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Philip's path sketches the road Corey is walking now.
Corey 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 Corey is headed
Corey 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.
Corey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Corey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Reads aloud correctly on sight for English speakers — no pronunciation lesson required at any point in life.
- Short enough that it needs no nickname, while still working on a résumé and in a classroom roll call alike.
- Over a century of continuous presence in US records, so it is familiar to every generation now living.
- Well established for both boys and girls, with distinct spellings that families use to signal which side they mean.
- Corey, Cory, Korey, Kory and Cori all exist in real use, so whichever you choose will be spelled the other way by strangers fairly often. Picking one and saying it the same way every time is most of the fix.
- The name crested a few decades ago, so it currently reads as a name of people in midlife rather than a name of babies. That cuts both ways: it will be instantly recognized and rarely duplicated in a classroom.
- Because the girls' spellings sit so close to the boys', a written Corey occasionally prompts a guess about gender before a child walks into the room.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Corey to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Corey? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Corey
Masculine · #778 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Coreys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 175,000 people named Corey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Corey?
- Corey is the most-used spelling in US records — 327 of the 374 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Korey.
- How popular is the name Corey in 2025?
- Corey ranks #778 among US boy names in 2025, with 327 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Corey?
- About 1 in every 5,223 US boys born in 2025 was named Corey — 327 in all.
- Will my child share the name Corey with classmates?
- Corey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Corey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dutton#778 · Zamir#778 · Alvaro#777 · Harry#775 · Blaze#781 · Kyree#781 · Riggs#775 · Asaiah#773
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Corey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Corey and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle