Maple
Feminine · Old English roots · “maple”
Maple is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 3,281 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Maple is the English name of a tree, spelled the way it has been spelled for centuries and pronounced exactly as it looks. It arrived on American records during the great Victorian enthusiasm for flower and tree names, went quiet for several generations, and is being used again now — mostly by very young children.
How old is the name Maple?
Maple first appears in US birth records in 1896 — 129 years ago. The typical Maple is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,400 people named Maple are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maple most popular?
Maple peaked in 1902, reaching #936 nationally. Today it ranks #1092, 156 places below that high. See the whole 1902 chart.
Where it comes from
From mapul (Old English) to Maple
The story of Maple
Maple is a straightforward word name: the English word for the tree, descended from Old English mapul, which survives in the compound mapeltrēow. English-speaking parents began drawing given names from botany in the nineteenth century — Rose, Violet, Ivy, Olive, Hazel — and Maple entered American records on that wave. The tree itself is deeply North American: the sugar maple gives syrup, its leaf is the emblem of Canada, and Maple Street or Maple Avenue runs through an enormous number of American towns. After a long quiet stretch, the name has returned, and the children carrying it now are young.
Meaning
maple, the tree
From Old English mapul (also mapel), the native word for the tree; Old English used the compound mapeltrēow, 'maple tree'.
How the name formed
- mapulOld English
- mapelMiddle English
- Maple
Related forms: Kaede · Momiji
Pronouncing Maple
MAY-pul
Two syllables, identical to the tree. Almost no English speaker will hesitate over it, and almost none will misspell it.
Nicknames for Maple
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
- 1896
- Most girls named
- 2025221 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #936reached in 1902
- Change vs 2023
- +17.6%221 in 2025, from 188
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.
Maple in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kaede in Japanese — related form
- Momiji in Japanese — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Washington.
Maples among us
people named Maple are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 7,273 born in 2025 was named Maple
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
Maple is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Maple is headed
Maple looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium 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.
Maple beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Maple in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelling and pronunciation are already known to every English speaker — no repeating it, no correcting it.
- Over a century on American records, so it is a revival rather than an invention.
- Two syllables with a soft ending, which sits easily beside most surnames.
- Yields Mae or May, both of which are established given names by themselves.
- The tree is famous for syrup and pancakes, and children find that quickly. Most Maples grow up hearing it as an affectionate joke rather than a cruel one, but it will come up.
- It is also a very common pet name right now, especially for dogs — expect the occasional 'we have a Maple too' from someone who means their spaniel.
- The name is climbing, and word names can climb fast. A child named Maple today may meet others in a way that seems unlikely at the moment.
- As a word name rather than an inherited one, it carries no family or cultural line with it — which is freeing for some parents and a little thin for others.
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What they receive
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Maple
Feminine · Old English roots · #1092 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maples are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Maple are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Maple in 2025?
- Maple ranks #1092 among US girl names in 2025, with 221 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Maple?
- About 1 in every 7,273 US girls born in 2025 was named Maple — 221 in all.
- Will my child share the name Maple with classmates?
- Maple will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Maple
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Sunnie#1092 · Moriah#1092 · Lavender#1095 · Claudia#1096 · Kiera#1096 · Renee#1098 · Jayleen#1098 · Sterling#1098
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maple? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Maple and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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