Infant
Feminine · “a child too young to speak”
Infant is given to both — 3,908 girls and 4,230 boys since 1880. See Infant as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Infant is not a name in the ordinary sense. It is the English word for a very young child, and it has a line in the national name record because a birth certificate has a space that must be filled whether or not the parents have settled on anything to put there.
How old is the name Infant?
Infant first appears in US birth records in 1984 — 41 years ago. The typical Infant alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 3,800 people named Infant are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Infant most popular?
Infant peaked in 1990, reaching #432 nationally. See the whole 1990 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From infans to Infant
The story of Infant
The word traveled from Latin infans through Old French enfant into English, where by the fourteenth century it meant both a small child and, in law, any person under age. Spanish and Portuguese kept a further sense: an infante was a royal child who was not the heir. On an American certificate the word is doing a different job from a name, holding the line where a name will go, and the national tally counts whatever is written on that line. That is why the entry exists, why it clusters in particular decades and particular states, and why it should be read as paperwork rather than as a choice.
Meaning
a child too young to speak
From the Latin infans, built from in-, not, and fari, to speak. The same root reached English a second time as infantry: in Italian a fante was a foot soldier young enough to be called a boy, and the word for the youngest soldiers became the word for the whole arm.
How the name formed
- infans
- enfant
- infant
Related forms: Enfant · Infante · Infante
Pronouncing Infant
IN-funt
Said exactly like the common word, two syllables with the weight at the front. There is no separate name pronunciation to learn.
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
- 1984
- Most girls named
- 1990582 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #432reached in 1990
- Change vs 2023
- −39.1%14 in 2024, from 23
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.
Infant in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Enfant in French — related form
- Infante in Spanish — related form
- Infante in Portuguese — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Infants among us
people named Infant 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
Infant 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
- Every English speaker can read, say and spell it on first sight.
- The word itself has a documented history running from Latin through French into English, and a well-known cousin in infantry.
- It is the ordinary noun for a baby, and a person carries it out of infancy and through an entire adult life.
- Entries under this spelling include certificates filed before a name was chosen, so it is not safe to assume everyone counted here was called it.
- It is recorded for boys and girls alike and gives a reader no signal either way.
- Clerks, teachers and forms will read it as an error and ask about it every time.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Infant to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Infant? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Infant
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Infants are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,800 people named Infant are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Infant in 2025?
- Infant is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Infant with classmates?
- Infant will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More I names
The most-given names starting with I, all years combined.
Isabella#7 · Irene#651 · Ida#1120 · Isabel#176 · Isabelle#166 · Iris#61 · Ivy#39 · Irma#3167
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Infant? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Infant and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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