Neo
Masculine · Greek roots · “New" in Greek”
Neo is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,117 boys against 6 girls since 1880.
Three letters, two syllables, and two separate roads to the same spelling: the Greek neos, "new," that sits at the front of hundreds of English words, and Neo, a given name long used in Botswana and among Sesotho and Setswana speakers in South Africa. It is short enough to fit any surname and clear enough that almost nobody misspells it once they have heard it said.
How old is the name Neo?
Neo first appears in US birth records in 1990 — 35 years ago. The typical Neo is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,100 people named Neo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Neo most popular?
Neo peaked in 2022, reaching #947 nationally. Today it ranks #1064, 117 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Where it comes from
From neos (Greek, "new") to Neo
The story of Neo
The Greek neos is one of the oldest working words in European languages, and it never stopped working: it built neolithic, neon, neoclassical, and it is why English readers glance at Neo and hear "new" without being taught. The southern African Neo has its own unbroken history in Setswana and Sesotho, where names built from everyday words — gift, joy, thanks — are ordinary and unremarkable, and where Neo is given to girls and boys alike. In the United States the name arrived quietly and then found a much wider audience through the protagonist of the 1999 film The Matrix, and its use here is recent enough that most American bearers are still children.
Meaningscholars disagree
"New" in Greek; "gift" in Setswana and Sesotho
Two genuine sources meet at this spelling. Greek neos means new, and survives in English as the prefix neo-. Independently, Neo is an established given name in Setswana and Sesotho, where it means gift, and is carried by both men and women in Botswana and South Africa. Neither reading borrowed from the other; American parents may have either in mind.
How the name formed
- neosGreek, "new"
- neo-prefix in Latin and English
- Neo
Related forms: Neo · Néo · Neos
Pronouncing Neo
NEE-oh
In American English it is NEE-oh, with the stress up front. Setswana and Sesotho speakers say it closer to NEH-oh, with a shorter first vowel. Both are correct for their own tradition.
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
- 1990
- Most boys named
- 2022240 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #947reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −13.6%204 in 2025, from 236
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.
Neo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Neo in Setswana / Sesotho — related form
- Néo in French — spelling variant
- Neos in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Neos among us
people named Neo are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 8,373 born in 2025 was named Neo
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 Pamela test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Neo's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Pamela climbed just as high around 1963, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Pamela's path sketches the road Neo is walking now.
Neo 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 Neo is headed
Neo looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 20% 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.
Neo beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Neo in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters, spelled the way it sounds — rarely misheard, rarely written down wrong.
- Two syllables that sit easily against long surnames and against most first-name-plus-middle-name combinations.
- Reads without instruction in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, and is an established name in Setswana and Sesotho.
- In southern Africa it is used for girls and boys, so the spelling travels comfortably in mixed company.
- The Matrix connection is strong and will be the first thing many adults mention. That reference is fading with each new set of parents, but it has not disappeared, and a child will likely field the question more than once.
- There is nowhere to go with it — no shorter form, no long form to fall back on for a formal signature. What you choose is what gets used, in every register.
- In the US it is recorded almost entirely for boys, while in Botswana and South Africa it belongs to both. Worth knowing if your family or community reads it the other way.
- The neo- prefix attaches to plenty of English words, admirable and otherwise. In practice it very rarely comes up, since people hear the name as a name.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Neo
Masculine · Greek roots · #1064 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Neos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,100 people named Neo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Neo in 2025?
- Neo ranks #1064 among US boy names in 2025, with 204 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Neo?
- About 1 in every 8,373 US boys born in 2025 was named Neo — 204 in all.
- Will my child share the name Neo with classmates?
- Neo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Neo
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ronnie#1064 · Ismail#1064 · Eider#1064 · Alaric#1063 · Zakari#1060 · Henrik#1060 · Nixon#1060 · Billy#1068
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Neo? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Neo and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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