Moss
Masculine · “Drawn out of the water”
Moss is the medieval English way of saying Moses, and it was a real given name in England long before anyone thought of the plant. It survived chiefly as a surname, and its American peak in 1901 belongs to the generation that used surnames as first names.
How old is the name Moss?
Moss first appears in US birth records in 1891 — 134 years ago. The typical Moss alive today was born around 1972, making them about 53 years old. About 300 people named Moss are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Moss most popular?
Moss peaked in 1901, reaching #943 nationally. Today it ranks #5208, 4,265 places below that high. See the whole 1901 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Mose to Moss
The story of Moss
Moses was used by both Jews and Christians in medieval England, and the spoken English form was Moss — the same simplification that gave Cass and Bess. It generated the surname Moss, carried by families of both Jewish and Welsh descent, the Welsh from a separate root. As a given name it faded in England after the Middle Ages but persisted in Jewish families and revived in nineteenth-century America along with the rest of the surname names. Its 1901 peak is that revival. The playwright Moss Hart, born in New York in 1904, is its best-known American bearer and sits precisely at the top of the wave.
Meaningscholars disagree
Drawn out of the water
Moss is a medieval vernacular form of Moses, whose own etymology is disputed: Exodus derives it from a Hebrew verb māšāh, to draw out, while most modern scholarship reads it as the Egyptian element mose, child or born of, seen in Thutmose and Ahmose. The English plant word moss is unrelated and is not the source of the name, though it is inevitably the first thing an English speaker hears.
How the name formed
- Mose
- Moses
- Moss
Related forms: Moshe · Musa · Moyshe
Pronouncing Moss
MOSS
One syllable, exactly like the plant. There is no alternative saying.
Nicknames for Moss
Limited
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
- 1891
- Most boys named
- 202518 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #943reached in 1901
- Change vs 2024
- +20.0%18 in 2025, from 15
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.
Moss in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Moshe in Hebrew — related form
- Musa in Arabic — related form
- Moyshe in Yiddish — related form
Mosss among us
people named Moss are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 94,893 born in 2025 was named Moss
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
Moss 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
Moss beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Moss in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, four letters, and nothing to explain about how to say it.
- It has a genuine medieval English history as a given name, not only as a surname.
- Moses stands behind it as a formal option.
- Everyone will hear the plant first, and the plant grows in damp shade.
- It reads as a surname to most Americans, helped by the footballer Randy Moss.
- The connection to Moses is invisible to anyone who has not been told.
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What they receive
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Moss
Masculine · #5208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mosss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Moss are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Moss in 2025?
- Moss ranks #5208 among US boy names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Moss?
- About 1 in every 94,893 US boys born in 2025 was named Moss — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Moss with classmates?
- Moss will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Moss
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rodger#5208 · Eusebio#5208 · Boy#5208 · Randal#5208 · Gable#5208 · Jessy#5208 · Kelby#5208 · Jens#5208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Moss? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Moss and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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