Granville
Masculine · “big town”
Granville is French for the big town — grande ville — and it is a real port in Normandy, from which a family took its name and carried it to England.
How old is the name Granville?
Granville was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Granville alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 1,600 people named Granville are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Granville most popular?
Granville peaked in 1880, reaching #325 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 11,683 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Where it comes from
From grande ville to Granville
The story of Granville
The Grenville and Granville families were prominent in English history from the Norman period, and the surname crossed to America. It became a given name in the nineteenth century, most strongly in the American South and among families honoring a connection to the Granville land grants in North Carolina. It peaked around 1890.
Meaning
big town
From the Old French grande, 'great' or 'large', and ville, 'town' or 'estate'. Granville is a port on the Normandy coast. The compound is entirely transparent to a French speaker, and the surname is straightforwardly territorial.
How the name formed
- grande ville
- Granville
Related forms: Grenville · Granville
Pronouncing Granville
GRAN-vil
Two syllables, stress on the first. French says grahn-VEEL with the stress on the second.
Nicknames for Granville
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
- 1918148 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #325reached in 1880
- Change vs 2018
- −44.4%5 in 2025, from 9
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.
Granville in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Grenville in English — spelling variant
- Granville in French — same name
Granvilles among us
people named Granville are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Granville
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
Granville 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
Granville beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Granville 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 transparent and the place is real.
- A documented Anglo-Norman family carries the name.
- Van is available as a short form with modern currency.
- Grenville is an equally established spelling.
- It reads as a surname before it reads as a given name.
- It is strongly period-coded to the nineteenth century.
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Granville
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Granvilles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Granville are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Granville in 2025?
- Granville ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Granville?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Granville — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Granville with classmates?
- Granville will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Granville
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008 · Solon#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Granville? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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