Garland
Masculine · “A wreath”
Garland is given to both — 23,857 boys and 855 girls since 1880. See Garland as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Garland is a wreath, and the wreath came first — the word meant a prize and a crown of leaves for several centuries before anybody used it for flowers arranged on a wall.
How old is the name Garland?
Garland was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Garland alive today was born around 1942, making them about 83 years old. About 9,800 people named Garland are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Garland most popular?
Garland peaked in 1899, reaching #251 nationally. Today it ranks #6803, 6,552 places below that high. See the whole 1899 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Garland
The older sense was competitive. A garland was what you won: at a fair, at a race, in a poetry contest, and the word turns up constantly in that sense in medieval and early modern English. Books of songs were called garlands too, on the idea that a collection was a woven thing. Only later did it settle into the decorative sense it mostly has now. What is unusual about it as a name is the route: it is one of a very small number of English common nouns that became men's names without first becoming surnames, which is normally the only way a word gets into the men's name stock at all.
Meaning
A wreath, a prize
The word came into English from French and named the circular arrangement of leaves or flowers given to a victor. It is also an English surname, from a maker or wearer of them, and both routes lead to the same word.
Pronouncing Garland
GAR-lund
Two syllables, stress at the front. The ending is unstressed.
Nicknames for Garland
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 boys named
- 1921454 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #251reached in 1899
- Change vs 2022
- −29.4%12 in 2025, from 17
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.
Garlands among us
people named Garland are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was named Garland
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Garland 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
Garland beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Garland in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is concrete, pleasant and entirely transparent.
- It has the settled sound of an old American name rather than an invention.
- It is read correctly on sight.
- For many Americans the name belongs to a singer and actress first.
- The spelling is recorded for both sexes, though the boys hold nearly all of it.
- It is a common noun, which some bearers enjoy and others do not.
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What they receive
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Garland
Masculine · #6803 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Garlands are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,800 people named Garland are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Garland in 2025?
- Garland ranks #6803 among US boy names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Garland?
- About 1 in every 142,340 US boys born in 2025 was named Garland — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Garland with classmates?
- Garland will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Garland
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zeb#6803 · Buster#6803 · Fabien#6803 · Eston#6803 · Tyjuan#6803 · Fuad#6803 · Aaiden#6803 · Sanford#6803
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Garland? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Garland and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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