Furman
Masculine · “carter”
A Fuhrmann was a carter, and the name says exactly what he did. German surnames of this kind are unusually transparent — they name the job in ordinary words — and this one crossed to English, lost its umlaut and its doubled n, and went to the front of the name.
How old is the name Furman?
Furman first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Furman alive today was born around 1936, making them about 89 years old. About 900 people named Furman are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Furman most popular?
Furman peaked in 1900, reaching #490 nationally. See the whole 1900 chart.
Where it comes from
From Fuhrmann to Furman
The story of Furman
Carting was a trade rather than a chore: a man with a wagon and horses moved everybody else's goods, and in a country of small states and many tolls that made him a specialist. The surname is common across German-speaking Europe. In America it was respelt on arrival, as German names generally were — the umlaut has no English equivalent and the doubled consonant looked foreign — and the result, Furman, reads as an English word and is not one. It moved to the front of the name in the nineteenth century, and it also carries an American university founded by a Baptist minister of that name.
Meaning
carter, wagon driver
The German Fuhrmann joins a word for a cart or load to the word for a man. Occupational surnames are among the commonest in every European language, and this is one of the plainest.
How the name formed
- Fuhrmann
- Furman
Related forms: Fuhrmann
Pronouncing Furman
FUR-mun
Two syllables with the weight at the front, the second reduced to a hum. German gives the first vowel a longer oo sound.
Nicknames for Furman
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 boys named
- 192166 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #490reached in 1900
- Change vs 1995
- −12.5%7 in 1999, 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.
Furman in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Fuhrmann in German — related form
Furmans among us
people named Furman 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
Furman 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
- Both syllables are readable, so the name is said correctly at sight.
- It works as a surname and as a first name, which suits families that use both.
- The meaning is concrete and easy to explain.
- It shares a syllable with an English word about animal hair, and children will notice.
- It will be heard as Freeman and Ferman and written both ways.
- It reads clearly as a name of the late nineteenth century.
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Furman
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Furmans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Furman are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Furman in 2025?
- Furman is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Furman with classmates?
- Furman will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More F names
The most-given names starting with F, all years combined.
Frank#513 · Fred#1932 · Francis#420 · Frederick#435 · Floyd#2230 · Francisco#322 · Franklin#359 · Fernando#387
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Furman? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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