Nash
Masculine · Middle English roots · “At the ash tree”
Nash is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 22,439 boys against 144 girls since 1880.
Nash began as an English surname meaning "at the ash tree" — a real address before it was ever a name, the kind you gave someone so people knew which cottage was theirs. It is one syllable, spelled exactly as it sounds, and it has sat on American records since long before its recent rise as a given name.
How old is the name Nash?
Nash first appears in US birth records in 1910 — 115 years ago. The typical Nash is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 22,000 people named Nash are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nash most popular?
Nash peaked in 2021, reaching #233 nationally. Today it ranks #255, 22 places below that high. See the whole 2021 chart.
Where it comes from
From atten ash (Middle English) to Nash
The story of Nash
The line runs from Middle English, where a person could be identified by the landmark nearest their door: atten ash, at the ash tree. Repeated aloud often enough, the phrase re-divided itself, and the family became Nash. It settled as a hereditary surname across England and Wales — there are villages called Nash too, named the same way — and traveled with English speakers to North America, where it did centuries of service as a last name before parents began using it in the first slot. Its move to given-name status belongs to the broader American habit of promoting short, hard-consonant surnames, and that shift is recent enough that most people carrying Nash as a first name today are still young.
Meaning
At the ash tree
The surname comes from Middle English atten ash, "at the ash" — the N of atten drifted onto the tree over generations of speech. The same slippage gave English the surnames Noakes and Nokes, "at the oaks."
How the name formed
- atten ashMiddle English
- Nashe
- Nash
Pronouncing Nash
NASH
One syllable, rhyming with cash. There is no second pronunciation to correct, and the spelling gives it away on first sight.
Nicknames for Nash
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
- 1910
- Most boys named
- 20201,500 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #233reached in 2021
- Change vs 2023
- +1.8%1,357 in 2025, from 1,333
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.
Nash in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Ohio.
Nashs among us
people named Nash are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,259 born in 2025 was named Nash
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 Jamal test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nash's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jamal climbed just as high around 1993, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jamal's path sketches the road Nash is walking now.
Nash 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 Nash is headed
Nash should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Nash beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nash in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, one spelling, and no pronunciation to explain — it is read correctly on sight by English speakers.
- A documented etymology going back to Middle English, with a clear meaning parents can state in four words.
- An established English and Welsh surname, so it carries easily on forms, signatures and professional use at any age.
- Short enough to sit comfortably in front of almost any longer middle name or family surname.
- It rhymes with cash, crash and trash, which is the sort of thing children discover quickly. The rhymes are harmless, but worth hearing out loud before you decide.
- Because it is a well-known surname, it will occasionally be filed as a last name, and some people will ask for the first name after you have already given it.
- At one syllable it offers almost nothing to shorten, so the name you choose is the name that gets used — a plus for some parents, a limit for others who like having a formal and a casual version.
- Its use as a given name is a recent wave, so a child named Nash is unlikely to meet another his age, and equally unlikely to meet an adult one.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Nash to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Nash? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Nash
Masculine · Middle English roots · #255 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nashs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 22,000 people named Nash are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nash in 2025?
- Nash ranks #255 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,357 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nash?
- About 1 in every 1,259 US boys born in 2025 was named Nash — 1,357 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nash with classmates?
- Nash will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nash
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Crew#256 · Emerson#254 · Ayden#257 · Marcus#258 · Walter#251 · Zayn#251 · Harvey#251 · Xander#259
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nash? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nash 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.
Or jump into a head-to-head
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle