Louise
Feminine · “famous in battle”
Louise is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 336,466 girls against 2,196 boys since 1880. See Louise as a boy name
The final e here is not a silent decoration. Louis ends in a vowel sound with the s dropped entirely; Louise sounds the s, turns it into a z, and moves the stress to the back. One letter changes the last consonant and the rhythm of the whole word, which is more work than a silent e usually does.
How old is the name Louise?
Louise was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Louise alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 83,500 people named Louise are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Louise most popular?
Louise peaked in 1912, reaching #17 nationally. Today it ranks #514, 497 places below that high. See the whole 1912 chart.
Where it comes from
From Hludwig to Louise
The story of Louise
Very few names come back. A name that has peaked and fallen usually keeps falling for a century and then stays where it lands; the ones that return are rare enough to be worth noticing. This one peaked before the First World War, declined for the better part of eighty years, and has been climbing again for the last two decades, which puts it in a small category with Alice, Hazel and a handful of others. The pattern is roughly a hundred years, long enough that a name stops sounding like a grandmother's and starts sounding like nobody's, at which point it becomes available again. Names do not so much go out of fashion as go out of living memory.
Meaning
famous in battle
Two Germanic elements, the first meaning fame or renown and the second meaning battle or war. The compound is very old and its sense is secure, whatever route any particular family took to the French form.
How the name formed
- Hludwig
- Louis
- Louise
Related forms: Luise · Luisa · Luisa · Luísa
Pronouncing Louise
loo-EEZ
Two syllables with the weight at the back and a z on the end. The masculine form drops its final consonant entirely, which is the main thing English speakers get wrong about the pair.
Nicknames for Louise
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 girls named
- 19219,180 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #17reached in 1912
- Change vs 2022
- +25.3%579 in 2025, from 462
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.
Louise in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Luise in German — same name
- Luisa in Italian — same name
- Luisa in Spanish — same name
- Luísa in Portuguese — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas. INSEE rounds every published count to the nearest five for statistical confidentiality; the ranks are calculated from the exact figures. International figures from INSEE. Sources
Louises among us
people named Louise are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,776 born in 2025 was named Louise
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
Louise has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Louise is headed
Louise should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Louise beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Louise in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is currently returning, which means it sounds neither dated nor invented.
- Lou is a short form that works in any register and at any age.
- It is recognized across Europe with almost no change of spelling.
- Louisa is a separate and equally standard name that will be substituted.
- The pronunciation of the masculine form trips people up and reflects onto this one.
- The record holds a few boys as well, and the boy is much the smaller side.
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What they receive
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Louise
Feminine · #514 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Louises are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 83,500 people named Louise are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Louise in 2025?
- Louise ranks #514 among US girl names in 2025, with 579 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Louise?
- About 1 in every 2,776 US girls born in 2025 was named Louise — 579 in all.
- Will my child share the name Louise with classmates?
- Louise will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Louise
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Faye#514 · Analeia#514 · Remington#511 · Jream#517 · Alisson#511 · Hanna#511 · Clover#517 · Estella#509
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Louise? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Louise and another name?
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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