Memphis
Masculine · “Enduring and beautiful”
Memphis is given to both — 10,185 boys and 2,550 girls since 1880. See Memphis as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Memphis has been a city name for more than four thousand years — first on the Nile, where it was Egypt's capital, and then on the Mississippi, where nineteenth-century founders borrowed it for a river town that would later give the world Beale Street and Sun Studio. As a first name it says itself in two clean beats, and the spelling is one nearly every American already knows by heart.
How old is the name Memphis?
Memphis first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Memphis is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 10,000 people named Memphis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Memphis most popular?
Memphis peaked in 2021, reaching #404 nationally. Today it ranks #639, 235 places below that high. See the whole 2021 chart.
Where it comes from
From Men-nefer to Memphis
The story of Memphis
The first Memphis stood at the head of the Nile delta and served as a capital of ancient Egypt; Greek writers turned its Egyptian name Men-nefer into Memphis, and that is the form the West inherited. In 1819 the founders of a new settlement on a bluff above the Mississippi took the name deliberately, matching one great river city to another. From there it became a music town, and the word picked up everything that came with that. Its use as a given name in America is much more recent than either city — a place name that crossed over the way Austin, Dakota and Brooklyn did.
Meaning
Enduring and beautiful
Memphis is the Greek rendering of Egyptian Men-nefer, "enduring and beautiful" — originally the name of the pyramid town of the pharaoh Pepi I, which came to stand for the whole city. The older Egyptian name for the city itself was Inebu-hedj, "white walls."
How the name formed
- Men-nefer
- MemphisGreek
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Memphisgiven name
Related forms: Men-nefer · Μέμφις · Memfi · منف (Manf)
Pronouncing Memphis
MEM-fis
Stress on the first syllable. One pronunciation only, and almost no American will need to be told it.
Nicknames for Memphis
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
- 1916
- Most boys named
- 2021768 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #404reached in 2021
- Change vs 2024
- −10.3%437 in 2025, from 487
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.
Memphis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Men-nefer in Ancient Egyptian — transliteration
- Μέμφις in Greek — same name
- Memfi in Coptic — transliteration
- منف (Manf) in Arabic — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Ohio.
Memphiss among us
people named Memphis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,909 born in 2025 was named Memphis
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 Dino test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Memphis's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dino climbed just as high around 1960, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dino's path sketches the road Memphis is walking now.
Memphis 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 Memphis is headed
Memphis should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Memphis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Memphis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The spelling is already familiar to nearly everyone in the country, so it rarely needs repeating or correcting.
- One settled pronunciation, learned on sight, with no regional variation to negotiate.
- Given to both boys and girls in the US records — the same place name traveling two ways, not two different names.
- A documented history stretching back to ancient Egypt, with a clear meaning behind it.
- Distinctive in practice: a child named Memphis is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- The association with Tennessee is immediate and total. Expect the question "Is your family from there?" for life, and expect the music — Elvis, Stax, blues — to come up too. Some families love that; it is worth knowing it comes with the name.
- Short forms are not fixed. Mem and Memphy exist but none has settled into common use, so a child who wants a shorter everyday name may have to invent one.
- Most Memphises on record are boys. A girl with the name will sometimes be read as male on paper — forms, rosters, first emails — which is easily corrected but happens more than once.
- The name's wave is very recent, so it sits clearly in one era. Most people carrying it now are children, and it will read as a name of this moment for some time.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Memphis to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Memphis
Masculine · #639 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Memphiss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,000 people named Memphis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Memphis in 2025?
- Memphis ranks #639 among US boy names in 2025, with 437 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Memphis?
- About 1 in every 3,909 US boys born in 2025 was named Memphis — 437 in all.
- Will my child share the name Memphis with classmates?
- Memphis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Memphis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kasai#639 · Julio#641 · Leonard#637 · Ronald#637 · Amias#642 · Samir#643 · Shane#635 · Izaiah#635
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Memphis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Memphis and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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