Luke
Masculine · “From Lucania”
Luke is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 323,020 boys against 565 girls since 1880. See Luke as a girl name
One syllable, five letters, and nothing in it that needs explaining at the door. Luke is the English form of a name carried by one of the four gospel writers, and it has been written in more or less this shape in English since the medieval translators put the New Testament into the vernacular. It sounds like what it is: a clean vowel and a hard stop, easy to call across a yard.
How old is the name Luke?
Luke was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Luke alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 310,000 people named Luke are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Luke most popular?
Luke peaked in 2014, reaching #28 nationally. Today it ranks #33, 5 places below that high. See the whole 2014 chart.
Where it comes from
From Loukas to Luke
The story of Luke
The name begins in Greek as Loukas, a name of the kind Romans and Greeks used to mark where a person came from. It traveled into Latin as Lucas and then across Christian Europe attached to the evangelist Luke, credited with the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. English shortened Lucas to Luke in the Middle Ages, and the spelling was fixed for good by the English Bibles of the sixteenth century, which put the name in front of every reader and churchgoer for centuries afterwards. It has been in continuous English use ever since, joined in the twentieth century by a second kind of fame when a farm boy named Luke Skywalker turned up in the 1977 film.
Meaning
From Lucania — a region of southern Italy
The Greek Loukas is generally read as a short form of Loukanos, 'man from Lucania', the ancient district in the south of the Italian peninsula. A separate popular association ties the name to Latin lux, 'light', because the two look alike; that connection is affectionate rather than linguistic.
Cultural footprint
Luke Perry (b. 1966) — Beverly Hills, 90210 heartthrob
Luke Evans (b. 1979) — The Hobbit and Beauty and the Beast star
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Loukas
- Lucas
- Luk
- Luke
Related forms: Lucas · Luc · Luca · Lukas · Łukasz · Loukas
Pronouncing Luke
LOOK
One syllable with a long vowel, as in 'duke' and 'spook' — not the short vowel of 'look'. English, Canadian and Scottish speakers all say it the same way, and the German Lukas or French Luc are near enough that the name survives a border crossing intact.
Nicknames for Luke
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
- 1977 — Star Wars introduces Luke Skywalker
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 201610,001 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #28reached in 2014
- Change vs 2022
- −6.0%6,948 in 2025, from 7,393
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.
Luke in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lucas in Latin — same name
- Luc in French — same name
- Luca in Italian — same name
- Lukas in German — spelling variant
- Łukasz in Polish — same name
- Loukas in Greek — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida. International figures from Statistics Canada, National Records of Scotland. Sources
Lukes among us
people named Luke are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 246 born in 2025 was named Luke
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 Aaron test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Luke's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Aaron climbed just as high around 1994, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Aaron's path sketches the road Luke is walking now.
Luke 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
Where Luke is headed
Luke 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.
Luke beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Luke in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, spelled the way it sounds. Almost nobody asks how to write it, and almost nobody gets it wrong on a form.
- An unbroken written record in English since the medieval Bible translations, and in Greek and Latin for centuries before that.
- Has a ready equivalent in most European languages — Lucas, Luc, Luca, Lukas, Łukasz — so relatives abroad have a version to use.
- Reads as a boy's name without ambiguity in English, and has done so throughout its history.
- It is already as short as it goes. There is no formal long version to fall back on and no real nickname territory, which suits some families and frustrates others.
- Luke, Lucas, Luca and Lukas all circulate at once. Expect occasional corrections, and expect a room to feel fuller of similar sounds than it strictly is.
- The Star Wars connection is permanent for a great many people, and will draw the odd comment for a lifetime. Most bearers find it wears down to background noise.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Luke 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 Luke? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Luke
Masculine · #33 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lukes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 310,000 people named Luke are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Luke in 2025?
- Luke ranks #33 among US boy names in 2025, with 6,948 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Luke?
- About 1 in every 246 US boys born in 2025 was named Luke — 6,948 in all.
- Will my child share the name Luke with classmates?
- Roughly 1 in 10 classrooms will have a child named Luke.
- What explains the spikes and dips on Luke's chart?
- Luke climbed after 1977 — Star Wars introduces Luke Skywalker.
Ranked beside Luke
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Matthew#32 · Thomas#34 · Owen#31 · David#35 · Alexander#30 · Jackson#36 · Joseph#29 · Gabriel#37
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Luke? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Luke and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Or jump into a head-to-head
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; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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