Forrest
Masculine · “of the forest”
Forrest is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 53,639 boys against 1,058 girls since 1880. See Forrest as a girl name
Forrest began as a description of where a person lived: beside the woods, or working in them. English and Scottish families carried it as a surname for centuries before American parents lifted it onto the front of the name, and it has stayed on the US charts without a break ever since. Two syllables, both of them plain, and everyone who reads it knows how to say it.
How old is the name Forrest?
Forrest was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Forrest alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 31,500 people named Forrest are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Forrest most popular?
Forrest peaked in 1913, reaching #173 nationally. Today it ranks #374, 201 places below that high. See the whole 1913 chart.
Where it comes from
From forestis (Medieval Latin) to Forrest
The story of Forrest
The word came into English from Old French after the Norman Conquest, and by the Middle Ages it had become a surname across England and Scotland for people who lived beside woodland or held office in it. American families began using that surname as a first name in the nineteenth century, when honoring a family or local name this way was ordinary practice. It has been on the US charts continuously since record-keeping began, dipping and returning without ever disappearing — the pattern of a name that never became a fad and so never had to recover from one.
Meaning
of the forest; someone who lived by or worked in woodland
From Old French forest, itself from Medieval Latin forestis — originally the wood outside the enclosed estate, later the king's wood. The double r is the surname spelling; the single-r Forest is the ordinary English word.
How the name formed
- forestisMedieval Latin
- forestOld French
- ForrestEnglish and Scottish surname
- ForrestAmerican given name
Related forms: Forest · Forrester · Forster
Pronouncing Forrest
FOR-ist
Two syllables, stress on the first — identical to the word forest. Some speakers say FAHR-ist. No one needs it explained twice.
Nicknames for Forrest
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
- 1994 — Forrest Gump
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1995858 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #173reached in 1913
- Change vs 2022
- +7.1%850 in 2025, from 794
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.
Forrest in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Forest in English — spelling variant
- Forrester in English — related form
- Forster in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Ohio.
Forrests among us
people named Forrest are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,010 born in 2025 was named Forrest
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Forrest
- #374
- Forrest on the 2025 chart
- #280
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Forrest went to 850 boys in 2025, but Forest is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 1,194, which makes it the 280th most-given boys’ name of the year — 94 places above the chart.
- Forrest850
- Forest344
About 1 boy in 1,431 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 2,010 for Forrest 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
Forrest 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 Forrest is headed
Forrest 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.
Forrest beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Forrest in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Pronounced exactly as it looks, because it is an ordinary English word — no correcting strangers, no phonetic spelling on forms.
- An unbroken presence in US records since the charts began, which puts it outside the rise-and-crash cycle that catches newer names.
- A nature name with real age behind it, unlike most of the woodland and weather names that arrived in the last few decades.
- Works as a surname-style first name, a category that sits comfortably in American naming across generations.
- Forrest and Forest are both real spellings, and the single-r version is the dictionary word, so expect a lifetime of confirming which one. Saying "two r's" becomes automatic fairly quickly.
- The 1994 film Forrest Gump is the first thing many Americans will think of, and quoting it at your child is a fair bet. That association has softened with time but has not gone anywhere.
- Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Confederate cavalry general and first leader of the Ku Klux Klan, is why a good many American boys were given this name in earlier generations. It is worth knowing that some people, particularly in the South, still make the connection.
- Your child will likely be the only Forrest in the building, which cuts both ways — easy to be distinctive, occasional repeating of the name to people who did not catch it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Forrest to the vote.
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What they receive
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Forrest
Masculine · #374 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Forrests are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 31,500 people named Forrest are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Forrest?
- Forrest is the most-used spelling in US records — 850 of the 1,194 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Forest.
- How popular is the name Forrest in 2025?
- Forrest ranks #374 among US boy names in 2025, with 850 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Forrest?
- About 1 in every 2,010 US boys born in 2025 was named Forrest — 850 in all.
- Will my child share the name Forrest with classmates?
- Forrest will almost certainly be the only one in school.
- What explains the spikes and dips on Forrest's chart?
- Forrest climbed after 1994 — Forrest Gump.
Ranked beside Forrest
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kayce#375 · Grady#373 · Desmond#376 · Matthias#372 · Hugo#377 · Manuel#371 · Clark#377 · Marco#370
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Forrest? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Forrest and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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