Parker
Feminine · “keeper of the park”
Parker is given to both — 32,895 girls and 130,941 boys since 1880. See Parker as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Parker began as a job title in medieval England: the parker was the man who kept the lord's park, minding the deer, the fences and the poachers. Somewhere along the way the job became a surname, the surname crossed the Atlantic, and in America it stepped forward as a first name — first for boys, then for girls too. Two crisp syllables that land the same way in almost every English-speaking mouth.
How old is the name Parker?
Parker first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Parker is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 32,500 people named Parker are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Parker most popular?
Parker peaked in 2024, reaching #104 nationally. Today it ranks #106, 2 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Where it comes from
From parcarius (Medieval Latin, park-keeper) to Parker
The story of Parker
The root is Medieval Latin parcarius, a park-keeper, which came into Old French as parquier and into Middle English as parker. By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries it had hardened into a hereditary English surname, one of the great family of occupational names alongside Baker, Miller and Fletcher. English and Scottish Parkers carried it to North America, where — as happened to Carter, Cooper and dozens of others — the family name gradually turned into a given name. Its use for girls came later than its use for boys, and both now run side by side under one spelling.
Meaning
keeper of the park; park-keeper or gamekeeper
A medieval park was not a public green but an enclosed hunting ground held by a lord, and the parker was the officer in charge of it. The word reached English through Old French and Medieval Latin terms for the same office.
Cultural footprint
Parker Posey (b. 1968) — Indie film's "Queen of the Indies" and The White Lotus star
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- parcariusMedieval Latin, park-keeper
- parquierOld French
- ParkerMiddle English surname
- Parkergiven name, North America
Pronouncing Parker
PAR-ker
Stress on the first syllable. One pronunciation, no regional variants worth worrying about beyond how strongly the r's are sounded.
Nicknames for Parker
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 20252,536 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #104reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- +0.4%2,536 in 2025, from 2,525
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.
Parker in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Ohio.
Parkers among us
people named Parker are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 634 born in 2025 was named Parker
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 Angel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Parker's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Angel climbed just as high around 2001, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Angel's path sketches the road Parker is walking now.
Parker is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Parker is headed
Parker 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.
Parker beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Parker in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One spelling, one pronunciation — most people can both say it and write it after hearing it once.
- Serves a boy or a girl without any change in form, which is unusual among names this familiar.
- A documented history stretching back to medieval English occupational surnames, so it is not a coinage that will date to a decade.
- Has a genuine short form in Park, plus the option of no nickname at all — it is already brief.
- It still reads as a surname to many ears, which means occasional confusion on forms, rosters and email address generators where first and last names get swapped.
- The lean is toward boys. A girl named Parker will sometimes be assumed male on paper before anyone meets her — manageable, but worth knowing.
- It sits among a crowd of two-syllable -er surnames now used as first names, so it may be heard as part of that group rather than as its own thing.
- Very little scope for a softer or longer version if you want one later; Parker is essentially what you get.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Parker
Feminine · #106 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Parkers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 32,500 people named Parker are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Parker in 2025?
- Parker ranks #106 among US girl names in 2025, with 2,536 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Parker?
- About 1 in every 634 US girls born in 2025 was named Parker — 2,536 in all.
- Will my child share the name Parker with classmates?
- Parker will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Parker
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Gabriella#105 · Anna#107 · Hailey#104 · Cecilia#108 · Athena#109 · Allison#103 · Margot#102 · Juliette#110
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Parker? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Parker and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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