Lewis
Feminine · “Famous warrior”
Lewis is given to boys far more often — 155,766 boys against 870 girls since 1880. See Lewis as a boy name
Lewis is a surname, a first name, an island and a set of chess pieces carved from walrus ivory that were found in a sandbank and are still being argued over.
How old is the name Lewis?
Lewis first appears in US birth records in 1892 — 133 years ago. The typical Lewis alive today was born around 1938, making them about 87 years old. About 400 people named Lewis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lewis most popular?
Lewis peaked in 1892, reaching #1278 nationally. See the whole 1892 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Hludwig to Lewis
The story of Lewis
Two things carry the name and neither is a person. The Lewis chessmen were found on a beach in the Hebrides in the eighteen-thirties — ninety-odd pieces of carved walrus ivory, probably made in Norway, with expressions on the faces that have made them the most recognizable medieval objects in Britain: queens with their hands to their cheeks, bishops looking tired, berserkers biting their shields. And the American explorer Meriwether Lewis kept one of the great journals of the continent and then stopped writing it for months at a stretch, with no explanation ever found — gaps that historians have been trying to account for since, because the surviving pages are so detailed that the silences look deliberate.
Meaning
Famous warrior
The name descends from a Germanic compound about fame and battle, by way of the French royal name. The Scottish island called Lewis is a completely separate word from a different language and has no connection to the personal name.
How the name formed
- Hludwig
- Louis
- Lewis
Related forms: Louis · Ludwig · Luis · Luigi
Pronouncing Lewis
LOO-iss
Two syllables, stress at the front. The English form sounds its final s; the French one does not.
Nicknames for Lewis
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
- 1892
- Most girls named
- 191723 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1278reached in 1892
- Change vs 1987
- −14.3%6 in 2004, from 7
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.
Lewis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Louis in French — same name
- Ludwig in German — same name
- Luis in Spanish — same name
- Luigi in Italian — same name
Lewiss among us
people named Lewis 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
Lewis 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
- The meaning is settled and the name is understood across Europe.
- It works equally as a first name and a surname, which few names do.
- It has short forms that are warm without being childish.
- Louis is the commoner spelling in many countries and the two are said differently.
- The spelling is recorded for both sexes, though the boys hold nearly all of it.
- It is a very common surname, which occasionally confuses a form.
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What they receive
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Lewis
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Lewiss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Lewis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lewis in 2025?
- Lewis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Lewis with classmates?
- Lewis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Linda#902 · Lisa#987 · Laura#379 · Lauren#401 · Lillian#57 · Lori#1721 · Louise#514 · Lois#1666
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lewis? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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