Magnolia
Feminine · French roots · “The magnolia flower”
Magnolia began as a Latin coinage in eighteenth-century botany, built from the surname of a French botanist and attached to a tree with heavy cream-white blossoms. It reached people only later, as one of those flower names Americans began giving to daughters, and it has stayed in the records ever since — quietly for a long stretch, and now with real momentum. Four syllables that end soft, with the stress landing in the middle: mag-NOH-lee-uh.
How old is the name Magnolia?
Magnolia was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Magnolia is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 19,500 people named Magnolia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Magnolia most popular?
Magnolia peaked in 2025, reaching #124 nationally. Today it ranks #124, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From Magnol (French surname) to Magnolia
The story of Magnolia
The word came before the name. European botanists Latinized Magnol's surname into Magnolia for the genus, and Linnaeus's plant catalog of 1753 fixed it in scientific use. From there it spread as an ordinary English word for the tree, and in the United States it took on a second life: the blossom became an emblem of the South, and Mississippi is still called the Magnolia State. Girls named Magnolia followed the flower, in the same wave of botanical naming that carried Rose, Lily and Violet — and unlike most of that generation, this one has kept turning up in every decade since.
Meaning
The magnolia flower; the tree was named after the botanist Magnol
The plant genus was Latinized from the surname of Pierre Magnol, a French botanist of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries who directed the botanical garden at Montpellier. The surname's own origin is not established, so the meaning stops honestly at the flower.
How the name formed
- MagnolFrench surname
- MagnoliaLatin genus name
- MagnoliaEnglish word for the tree
- Magnoliagiven name
Related forms: Magnolia · Magnolia · Magnólia · Magnolia · Магнолия (Magnoliya) · Magnolie
Pronouncing Magnolia
mag-NOH-lee-uh
Four syllables, stress on the second. Some speakers compress the ending to mag-NOHL-yuh in quick speech. Because the tree carries the same word, almost every American English speaker says it right on sight.
Nicknames for Magnolia
High
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
- 20252,233 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #124reached in 2025
- Change vs 2022
- +18.5%2,233 in 2025, from 1,885
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.
Magnolia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Magnolia in Spanish — same name
- Magnolia in Italian — same name
- Magnólia in Portuguese — spelling variant
- Magnolia in Polish — same name
- Магнолия (Magnoliya) in Russian — transliteration
- Magnolie in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, California.
Magnolias among us
people named Magnolia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 720 born in 2025 was named Magnolia
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 Gayle test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Magnolia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Gayle climbed just as high around 1951, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Gayle's path sketches the road Magnolia is walking now.
Magnolia is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Magnolia is headed
Magnolia looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Magnolia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Magnolia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everyone already knows the spelling from the tree, so it is written correctly without explanation.
- The Southern association is strong — the blossom is a regional emblem and the name is most used in the South and Southwest. Lovely if that resonates; worth knowing if it doesn't.
- Maggie, the readiest short form, belongs to Margaret as well, so a Maggie will occasionally be assumed to be a Margaret.
- Four syllables ask for a shortish surname and a shortish middle name if you want the whole thing to say easily.
- It is climbing quickly. A Magnolia is unlikely to share her name in a classroom now, but she may well meet others of her generation later on.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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Magnolia
Feminine · French roots · #124 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Magnolias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 19,500 people named Magnolia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Magnolia in 2025?
- Magnolia ranks #124 among US girl names in 2025, with 2,233 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Magnolia?
- About 1 in every 720 US girls born in 2025 was named Magnolia — 2,233 in all.
- Will my child share the name Magnolia with classmates?
- Magnolia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Magnolia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Elsie#123 · Mary#125 · Scottie#126 · Emerson#122 · Hadley#121 · Valerie#127 · Ariana#128 · Hallie#120
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Magnolia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Magnolia and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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