Forest
Feminine · “English forest”
Forest is given to both — 593 girls and 17,784 boys since 1880. See Forest as a boy nameSee other names given to both
In the 1890s American parents used plain English nouns for children of either sex, and the nouns were mostly outdoors. Forest, Fern, Ivy, Clay, Pearl, Ruby, Vernon and Orville all appear in the girls' and boys' columns at once. The habit lasted about thirty years and then the whole class went female or vanished.
How old is the name Forest?
Forest first appears in US birth records in 1890 — 135 years ago. The typical Forest alive today was born around 1942, making them about 83 years old. About 300 people named Forest are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Forest most popular?
Forest peaked in 1897, reaching #826 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 7,536 places below that high. See the whole 1897 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From foris to Forest
The story of Forest
The nature-noun wave of the 1880s and 1890s is one of the clearest naming fashions in the American record and it is unusual in being genuinely unisex while it lasted. Gemstones, trees, plants and weather all supplied names: Pearl, Opal, Ruby, Jewel, Fern, Ivy, Olive, Forest, Clay, Vernon, Dell and Golden appear for boys and girls alike, and the SSA data shows both columns rising and falling together. What ended it was the First World War and the general reorganisation of American naming afterwards, and almost every member of the class went the same way: female use continued for a generation and male use collapsed. By 1930 Pearl, Ruby and Fern were entirely female and Forest and Clay were entirely male, which is the usual outcome when a unisex name divides rather than crossing.
Meaning
English forest, a large wood
The common noun, from Medieval Latin forestis, land outside the common jurisdiction, from foris, outside. The single-r spelling is the word rather than the surname, which is usually Forrest. As a given name Forest appears in American records for both sexes from the 1870s and peaks for girls in 1897.
How the name formed
- foris
- forestis
- Forest
Related forms: Forrest
Pronouncing Forest
FOR-ist
Two syllables, stress on the first, identical to the common noun. Forest and Forrest are homophones for almost all American speakers, and only the spelling separates them.
Nicknames for Forest
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
- 1890
- Most girls named
- 199427 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #826reached in 1897
- Change vs 2024
- −36.8%12 in 2025, from 19
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.
Forest in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Forrest in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Forests among us
people named Forest are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Forest
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Forest
- #8362
- Forest on the 2025 chart
- #936
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Forest went to 12 girls in 2025, but Forrest is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 24, which makes it the 936th most-given girls’ name of the year — 7,426 places above the chart.
- Forest12
- Forrest12
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 133,939 for Forest 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
Fashion outlook
Forest 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
Forest beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Forest in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The word is familiar, concrete and entirely pleasant.
- It has a documented history of female use in the American record.
- The spelling is the plain noun rather than the surname.
- It is read as male in every modern context.
- Forrest with two r's is the more common spelling.
- The unisex era it belongs to ended a century ago.
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What they receive
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Forest
Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Forests are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Forest are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Forest?
- Forest is the most-used spelling in US records — 12 of the 24 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Forrest.
- How popular is the name Forest in 2025?
- Forest ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Forest?
- About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Forest — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Forest with classmates?
- Forest will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Forest
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lona#8362 · Peggy#8362 · Leda#8362 · Margarette#8362 · Rella#8362 · Evalena#8362 · Vashti#8362 · Nona#8362
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Forest? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Forest and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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