Glover
Masculine · “A maker of gloves”
Glover is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,114 boys against 5 girls since 1880.
Shakespeare's father was a glover, and it was a respectable trade. John Shakespeare made and sold gloves in Stratford, held municipal office, and belonged to a guild whose work required good leather, fine stitching and a clientele with money, which is a long way from the picture of a poor country boy that grew up later.
How old is the name Glover?
Glover first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Glover alive today was born around 1930, making them about 95 years old. About 300 people named Glover are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Glover most popular?
Glover peaked in 1899, reaching #714 nationally. See the whole 1899 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From glof to Glover
The story of Glover
A glove was a legal instrument. Throwing one down was a formal challenge and picking it up was formal acceptance, both recognized in courts of chivalry; handing one over transferred possession of land, so that a charter might record the glove that accompanied it; and a glove sent as a token could authorize a messenger to act. Kings gave gloves at coronations, bishops wore them at mass, and a fair held under royal protection might hang a giant glove above the town as the sign that special peace was in force for its duration. The object carried an entire vocabulary of gestures, almost none of which survives.
Meaning
A maker of gloves
An occupational surname of the plainest kind, from the Old English word for the garment, which is native and has no relatives outside Germanic. Gloves were expensive, specialized and sold rather than made at home, which is why the trade produced a surname at all.
How the name formed
- glof
- Glover
Pronouncing Glover
GLUV-er
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The o is said as a short u, which is what English does to that letter next to a v, as in love, dove and above.
Nicknames for Glover
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
- 1885
- Most boys named
- 191530 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #714reached in 1899
- Change vs 1984
- 0.0%5 in 2014, from 5
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.
Glovers among us
people named Glover 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
Glover 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
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- The trade behind it is concrete and easy to explain to a child.
- Short, firm and impossible to misspell once heard.
- The record carries it for girls as well as boys, so it signals nothing on a form.
- It reads as a surname and will be entered in the wrong column.
- It belongs to the oldest layer of the American record and reads that way.
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Glover
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Glovers 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 Glover are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Glover in 2025?
- Glover is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Glover with classmates?
- Glover will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More G names
The most-given names starting with G, all years combined.
George#126 · Gary#1073 · Gregory#593 · Gerald#1204 · Gabriel#37 · Glenn#1443 · Gavin#303 · Gordon#1051
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Glover? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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