Flo
Feminine · “flourishing”
Flo is Florence cut after two letters, and Florence is a city in Tuscany. What is less well known is that in Ireland the full name belonged to men for centuries — a whole line of Florences who were chieftains and soldiers, and not one of them thought the name was a woman's.
How old is the name Flo?
Flo first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Flo alive today was born around 1925, making them about 100 years old. About 500 people named Flo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Flo most popular?
Flo peaked in 1891, reaching #524 nationally. See the whole 1891 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Florentia to Flo
The story of Flo
The Irish Florences were not named for the city at all. English officials in Ireland spent centuries writing down Gaelic names by finding the nearest English word, and an Irish name beginning with a similar sound was regularly recorded as Florence. Whole families of them appear in the state papers, fighting the English and being written about under a name their neighbors would not have recognized. The city itself, meanwhile, gave Europe a coin: a gold piece with a lily stamped on it, minted from the thirteenth century, so reliable that it was copied across the continent and gave its name to coins in half a dozen countries that had nothing to do with Tuscany.
Meaning
flourishing
The Latin behind the city's name means blooming or prospering, and the personal name comes through the city rather than directly from the word. The Irish men's use is a separate matter and is discussed below.
How the name formed
- Florentia
- Florence
- Flo
Pronouncing Flo
FLOH
One syllable. There is nothing ambiguous about it and nobody meeting it in writing hesitates.
Nicknames for Flo
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 girls named
- 191757 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #524reached in 1891
- Change vs 1966
- −37.5%5 in 2024, from 8
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.
Flos among us
people named Flo 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
Flo 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, three letters, and instantly said by anyone.
- It has a warmth that the full name does not, and no formality at all.
- It is short enough to survive any amount of hurry.
- It reads as a short form to most people even when it is the legal name.
- The generation that used it is now very old.
- It is close to several unrelated English words and gets misheard.
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Flo
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Flos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Flo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Flo in 2025?
- Flo is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Flo with classmates?
- Flo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More F names
The most-given names starting with F, all years combined.
Frances#318 · Florence#391 · Faith#254 · Felicia#5554 · Fannie#3342 · Faye#514 · Flora#607 · Freda#6546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Flo? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Flo and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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