Parish
Masculine · “Greek paroikia”
Parish is given to both — 910 boys and 302 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
One r or two is the whole difference between this name and its neighbor in the same records. English surnames doubled the consonant to keep the preceding vowel short, so Parrish is the older spelling and Parish is the one that drifted toward the ordinary noun. The single r opens a reading, PAY-rish, that the doubled one blocks.
How old is the name Parish?
Parish first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Parish alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 900 people named Parish are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Parish most popular?
Parish peaked in 1967, reaching #1573 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 6,670 places below that high. See the whole 1967 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From paroikia to Parish
The story of Parish
Consonant doubling in English surnames is not decoration and it is not random. English spelling settled slowly, and by the time it did, the doubled consonant had become the standard way to signal a short vowel before it. Names that kept their doubling, Barrett, Garrett, Harrison, Parrish, Merritt, are protected from being read with a long vowel; names that lost it are not, which is why Baron and barren, Berry and bury, Carol and Carroll can be confusing on paper. The two spellings in this data set are a natural experiment: they sit one rank apart, peak one year apart, and represent the same sound. What distinguishes them is entirely historical, which spelling a given family's records happened to fix on, and the fact that both survive in numbers is a reminder that surname spelling was not standardized until well into the nineteenth century.
Meaning
Greek paroikia, a community of sojourners
Through Old French paroisse from Late Latin parochia, itself Greek paroikia, from para, beside, and oikos, house: a dwelling beside, hence a community of resident foreigners, and then a Christian congregation. The English surname is usually explained as either from the ecclesiastical word or from a place, and the given name follows the surname. Parish peaks in 1967, one year after the doubled-r spelling.
How the name formed
- paroikia
- parochia
- Parish
Related forms: Parrish · Paroisse
Pronouncing Parish
PAR-ish
Two syllables, stress on the first, short a, exactly as the church word. The single r allows a reading with a long a, PAIR-ish, which is also the pronunciation of the unrelated verb perish for many speakers.
Nicknames for Parish
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 199143 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1573reached in 1967
- Change vs 2024
- +50.0%9 in 2025, from 6
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.
Parish in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Parrish in English — spelling variant
- Paroisse in French — related form
Parishs among us
people named Parish are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Parish
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Parish
- #8243
- Parish on the 2025 chart
- #910
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Parish went to 9 boys in 2025, but Parrish is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 18, which makes it the 910th most-given boys’ name of the year — 7,333 places above the chart.
- Parish9
- Parrish9
About 1 boy in 94,893 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 189,786 for Parish itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Claudell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Parish's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Claudell climbed just as high around 1940, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Claudell's path sketches the road Parish is walking now.
Parish 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
Parish beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Parish in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The etymology is documented back to Greek.
- It fits the American surname-as-first-name tradition.
- It is short and easy to say.
- Parrish with two r's is the older and slightly more common spelling.
- The single r permits a long-vowel reading.
- It is a common church word and will be read as one.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Parish
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Parishs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Parish are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Parish?
- Parish is the most-used spelling in US records — 9 of the 18 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Parrish.
- How popular is the name Parish in 2025?
- Parish ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Parish?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Parish — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Parish with classmates?
- Parish will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Parish
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Parish? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Parish and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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