Moxie
Feminine · “nerve”
Moxie is an American word with an unusually precise origin: it began as the brand name of a bitter New England soft drink in the eighteen-seventies, and the advertising was so relentless that the word came to mean nerve, energy and the willingness to keep going. Very few words can be traced to a single bottle.
How old is the name Moxie?
Moxie first appears in US birth records in 2006 — 19 years ago. The typical Moxie is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 700 people named Moxie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Moxie most popular?
Moxie peaked in 2018, reaching #2928 nationally. Today it ranks #4987, 2,059 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Moxie (drink) to Moxie
The story of Moxie
The drink was invented in Massachusetts and sold first as a nerve tonic, then as a soft drink, and it was for a while more popular than cola in the United States. Its name was everywhere on signs and painted walls, and American English absorbed it as a common noun in the nineteen-twenties and thirties. Maine still names it the official state soft drink. As a given name it is recent, part of a group of spirited word-names that American parents have been using for two decades.
Meaning
nerve; spirit; determination
From Moxie, a patent medicine and then a soft drink first sold in New England in the eighteen-seventies. The drink's advertising promised energy and nerve, and by the nineteen-thirties the word had left the bottle entirely and meant those qualities on its own.
How the name formed
- Moxiedrink
- moxieword
- Moxie
Pronouncing Moxie
MOK-see
Two syllables, stress in front. There is no other reading in English.
Nicknames for Moxie
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
- 2006
- Most girls named
- 202157 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2928reached in 2018
- Change vs 2024
- −25.7%26 in 2025, from 35
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.
Moxie in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Colorado.
Moxies among us
people named Moxie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 61,818 born in 2025 was named Moxie
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 Tram test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Moxie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tram climbed just as high around 1981, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tram's path sketches the road Moxie is walking now.
Moxie 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 Moxie is headed
Moxie is easing off slowly — about 15% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Moxie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Moxie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a single warm word and the etymology is genuinely entertaining.
- Everyone can spell it and say it after hearing it once.
- It is one of very few names whose origin can be dated to a decade and a product.
- It is a word in ordinary use, so the child hears her name in unrelated sentences.
- It is also still a soft drink sold in New England, which will be mentioned there.
- A name meaning nerve is a claim about the child, which some children enjoy and others do not.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Moxie to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Moxie
Feminine · #4987 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Moxies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Moxie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Moxie in 2025?
- Moxie ranks #4987 among US girl names in 2025, with 26 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Moxie?
- About 1 in every 61,818 US girls born in 2025 was named Moxie — 26 in all.
- Will my child share the name Moxie with classmates?
- Moxie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Moxie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Perri#4987 · Giannina#4987 · Karisma#4987 · Zuleyka#4987 · Mccall#4987 · Makinley#4987 · Jayani#4987 · Mela#4987
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Moxie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Moxie and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
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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