Luther
Feminine · “people-army”
Luther is given to boys far more often — 66,986 boys against 435 girls since 1880. See Luther as a boy name
Luther entered the US charts in 1907, peaked at #1721 in 1926, is rarely given in 2025 — given to only a few children a year.
How old is the name Luther?
Luther first appears in US birth records in 1907 — 118 years ago. The typical Luther alive today was born around 1928, making them about 97 years old. About 100 people named Luther are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Luther most popular?
Luther peaked in 1926, reaching #1721 nationally. See the whole 1926 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Liuthari to Luther
The story of Luther
The name began as a Germanic personal name and settled into a German family surname, spelled variously — the reformer Martin Luther, born in the 1480s, came from a family that wrote it Luder before he fixed the spelling we use. His fame turned the surname into a given name across Protestant Europe, and English-speaking families were using it as a first name well before it reached American birth records. It traveled to the United States with German and Scandinavian settlers in particular, which is part of why it still shows well in the upper Midwest as well as in the large southern and western states. In 1934 Michael King Sr. renamed himself and his young son after the reformer, and that second Martin Luther gave the name a whole further life in American English.
Meaningscholars disagree
"people-army" — from Germanic liut (people) and heri (army)
The usual derivation runs from an old Germanic personal name Leuthar or Liuthari, liut "people" plus heri "army". A competing line traces the surname instead to Lothar, from hlud "famous" and the same heri, giving "famous warrior". Both are Germanic, both end in the same word for army; the disagreement is over the first half.
How the name formed
- Liuthari
- Lothar
- Luder
- Luther
Related forms: Lothar · Lothaire · Lotario · Lutero · Lutherus · Лютер
Pronouncing Luther
LOO-thur
The th is voiced, as in "other", not hissed as in "think". In German the name is said LOO-ter, with a plain t — worth knowing if the family has German-speaking relatives.
Nicknames for Luther
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
- 1907
- Most girls named
- 192624 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1721reached in 1926
- Change vs 1967
- 0.0%5 in 1969, from 5
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.
Luther in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lothar in German — related form
- Lothaire in French — related form
- Lotario in Italian — related form
- Lutero in Spanish — related form
- Lutherus in Latin — spelling variant
- Лютер in Russian — transliteration
Luthers among us
people named Luther 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
Luther 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
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What they receive
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Luther
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Luthers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 100 people named Luther are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Luther in 2025?
- Luther is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Luther with classmates?
- Luther 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 Luther? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Luther and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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