Gregor
Masculine · “Greek gregorein”
Gregory is a command. Greek gregorein means to be awake or on watch, and the name comes from the early Christian instruction to stay alert: watch, therefore, for you do not know the hour. It was taken as a monastic name precisely because it described the discipline of keeping vigil, and sixteen popes have carried it.
How old is the name Gregor?
Gregor first appears in US birth records in 1897 — 128 years ago. The typical Gregor alive today was born around 1970, making them about 55 years old. About 900 people named Gregor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gregor most popular?
Gregor peaked in 1897, reaching #1057 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 7,186 places below that high. See the whole 1897 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From gregorein to Gregor
The story of Gregor
Vigil-keeping was a real practice and the name describes it. Early monastic rules divided the night into watches and required the community to rise and pray through them, a discipline that continues in some orders. The Greek word is imperative in its most famous uses, and choosing it as a name was choosing a program. The two Gregorys who left the largest mark are unrelated: Gregory the Great, pope from 590, who reorganised the Roman liturgy and sent the mission that converted the English, and Gregory XIII, who in 1582 corrected the drift of the Julian calendar by ten days and gave the world the one it still uses. The Scottish Gregor and the clan MacGregor descend from the same name through the Gaelic Griogair, and the clan was proscribed by law in 1603, its name forbidden for over a century.
Meaning
Greek gregorein, to be watchful
From Greek gregorein, to watch or be vigilant, giving Gregorios, watchful. The word appears repeatedly in the New Testament in exhortations to stay awake. Gregor is the German, Scottish and Slavic form. Gregory I reformed the liturgy and gave his name to Gregorian chant; Gregory XIII gave his to the calendar in 1582. It peaks in the American data in 1897.
How the name formed
- gregorein
- Gregorios
- Gregor
Related forms: Gregor · Grigori · Griogair
Pronouncing Gregor
GREG-or
Two syllables, stress on the first in German and English. Slavic forms stress differently: Russian Grigori is gree-GOR-ee. The final -or keeps a fuller vowel than the -ory of Gregory, which reduces.
Nicknames for Gregor
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
- 1897
- Most boys named
- 196326 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1057reached in 1897
- Change vs 2022
- 0.0%9 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.
Gregor in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gregor in German — same name
- Grigori in Russian — same name
- Griogair in Scottish Gaelic — same name
Gregors among us
people named Gregor are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Gregor
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
Gregor 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
Gregor beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gregor 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 settled and unusually purposeful.
- Greg is a universally understood short form.
- It works across German, Scottish, Slavic and English contexts.
- Gregory is far more common in the United States.
- It reads as either European or antique to American ears.
- One literary character has attached an association for many readers.
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Gregor
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gregors 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 Gregor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gregor in 2025?
- Gregor ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gregor?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Gregor — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gregor with classmates?
- Gregor will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gregor
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gregor? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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