Faith
Feminine · “faith”
Faith is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 147,851 girls against 291 boys since 1880.
Faith began as an ordinary English word and became a name when English Protestants started christening children after the virtues they hoped to live by — Faith, Hope, Charity. It carries a single clean syllable, the kind that never needs spelling out over the phone, and it traveled to America early enough to have been read aloud in colonial New England churches. Long before that, the same Latin root gave the name of a martyr venerated across medieval France as Sainte Foy.
How old is the name Faith?
Faith was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Faith alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 137,000 people named Faith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Faith most popular?
Faith peaked in 2002, reaching #48 nationally. Today it ranks #254, 206 places below that high. See the whole 2002 chart.
Where it comes from
From Fides to Faith
The story of Faith
The word came into English from Old French feid, itself from Latin fides, 'trust'. In Roman religion Fides was the personified virtue of good faith, and the same root produced the name of Saint Faith — Sainte Foy — a martyr of Agen honored at the abbey of Conques, a major stop on the medieval pilgrim roads. As a given name in English, Faith belongs to the wave of virtue names taken up by Puritans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, alongside Hope, Grace, Mercy and Prudence, and it crossed the Atlantic with them. Unlike most of that company, it never went fully out of use, and it has been given steadily to American girls for as long as such records exist.
Meaning
faith, trust, belief
From Latin fides, 'trust', by way of Old French and Middle English.
How the name formed
- Fides
- Foy
- feith
- Faith
Related forms: Fe · Fé · Fede · Foy · Ffydd · Vera
Pronouncing Faith
FAYTH
One syllable, exactly as the English word. The same across American and British English, and it survives being said quickly.
Nicknames for Faith
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 20045,421 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #48reached in 2002
- Change vs 2022
- −22.7%1,212 in 2025, from 1,568
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.
Faith in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Fe in Spanish — same name
- Fé in Portuguese — same name
- Fede in Italian — same name
- Foy in French — related form
- Ffydd in Welsh — same name
- Vera in Russian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Faiths among us
people named Faith are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,326 born in 2025 was named Faith
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 Sherry test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Faith's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sherry climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sherry's path sketches the road Faith is walking now.
Faith is coming down from a big peak (#48 in 2002). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Faith is headed
Faith is easing off slowly — about 20% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Faith beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Faith in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelling and pronunciation follow each other perfectly — anyone who hears it can write it, and anyone who reads it can say it.
- In continuous English use since the Reformation era, so it has never needed a revival to sound normal.
- The same Latin root gives Fe in Spanish and Portuguese, widely used in Spain, Latin America and the Philippines.
- One syllable, which sits easily in front of longer middle names and most surnames.
- It is also a common English word, and in most American contexts a religious one. Some people will read it as a statement about the family's beliefs, which may or may not be what you want.
- Very short, with no long formal version to grow into and no real nickname to retreat to — a Faith is Faith at three and at fifty.
- Its bearers cluster heavily in one young-adult generation, so among adults it can read as belonging to a particular cohort, even while it is uncommon in classrooms now.
- Pairing it with Hope or Grace for a sibling makes the virtue-set unmistakable; worth deciding early whether you like that effect.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Faith 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.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Faith
Feminine · #254 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Faiths are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 137,000 people named Faith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Faith in 2025?
- Faith ranks #254 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,212 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Faith?
- About 1 in every 1,326 US girls born in 2025 was named Faith — 1,212 in all.
- Will my child share the name Faith with classmates?
- Faith will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Faith
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kaylee#255 · Kailani#253 · Lilly#252 · Juliana#256 · Amy#257 · Rosemary#251 · Journee#258 · Rachel#250
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Faith? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Faith and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Or jump into a head-to-head
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
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