Lord
Masculine · “English title used as a name”
Nobody named King was ever a king. Title surnames — King, Prince, Duke, Bishop, Abbot, Pope, Lord — almost never belonged to the office-holder. They marked a servant of one, a man who played the part in a pageant, or someone whose bearing invited the nickname.
How old is the name Lord?
Lord first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Lord alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 600 people named Lord are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lord most popular?
Lord peaked in 1934, reaching #2742 nationally. Today it ranks #7679, 4,937 places below that high. See the whole 1934 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From hlāford to Lord
The story of Lord
Medieval English surname formation produced a large stock of grand-sounding names by three routes. Some marked service: a man in the bishop's household became Bishop, and one in the king's became King. Some came from the mystery plays and civic pageants, where the man who played Herod or the Pope could carry the name for life. And some were nicknames for a person who behaved above his station. The pattern is documented across Europe — French Leroy, German Kaiser, Italian Re — and it means a title surname is evidence of proximity to power, never of holding it. Lord as an American given name peaks in 1934.
Meaning
English title used as a name
Lord is from Old English hlāford, a loaf-warden or keeper of the bread, the head of a household who fed his dependants. As a surname it belongs to the class of title names, which are generally occupational or ironic rather than literal. As an American given name it is a word name and carries the modern sense of the title, including its religious use.
How the name formed
- hlāford
- lord
- Lord
Related forms: Leroy · Kaiser
Pronouncing Lord
lord
One syllable, said exactly like the English word. There is no alternative pronunciation.
Nicknames for Lord
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
- 1917
- Most boys named
- 202129 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2742reached in 1934
- Change vs 2024
- −28.6%10 in 2025, from 14
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.
Lord in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Leroy in French — related form
- Kaiser in German — related form
Lords among us
people named Lord are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 170,808 born in 2025 was named Lord
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Olvin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lord's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Olvin climbed just as high around 1917, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Olvin's path sketches the road Lord is walking now.
Lord 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
Lord beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lord in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, four letters, and impossible to mispronounce.
- The word behind it has a settled and unusually vivid etymology.
- It is immediately memorable.
- It is a title and a religious term, which colors every introduction.
- It invites comment throughout a bearer's life.
- The 1930s peak dates a bearer strongly.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Lord
Masculine · #7679 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lords are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Lord are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lord in 2025?
- Lord ranks #7679 among US boy names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lord?
- About 1 in every 170,808 US boys born in 2025 was named Lord — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lord with classmates?
- Lord will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lord
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Early#7679 · Obie#7679 · Huston#7679 · Knute#7679 · Rance#7679 · Blain#7679 · Doyle#7679 · Millard#7679
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lord? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lord and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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