Pharaoh
Masculine · “the great house”
Pharaoh is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,992 boys against 5 girls since 1880.
Pharaoh means the great house in Egyptian — per-aa — because the palace stood for the man, and only later did the title name the king himself.
How old is the name Pharaoh?
Pharaoh first appears in US birth records in 1979 — 46 years ago. The typical Pharaoh is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,000 people named Pharaoh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pharaoh most popular?
Pharaoh peaked in 2019, reaching #1023 nationally. Today it ranks #2035, 1,012 places below that high. See the whole 2019 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From per-aa to Pharaoh
The story of Pharaoh
For a thousand years the great house meant the building; the shift to naming the ruler happened around the eighteenth dynasty, the same move English makes when it says the White House said something. Exodus casts Pharaoh as Israel's oppressor. The name entered American given-name use recently and is in current use.
Meaning
the great house
From the Egyptian per-aa, 'great house', originally naming the royal palace rather than its occupant. By the New Kingdom it had become a title for the king. Hebrew took it as par'oh and Greek as Pharao. The etymology is documented and undisputed.
How the name formed
- per-aa
- par'oh
- Pharaoh
Related forms: פרעה · Φαραώ · Faraoh
Pronouncing Pharaoh
FAIR-oh
Two syllables, stress on the first. The spelling is thoroughly opaque to the sound.
Nicknames for Pharaoh
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
- 1979
- Most boys named
- 2019203 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1023reached in 2019
- Change vs 2024
- −24.0%73 in 2025, from 96
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.
Pharaoh in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- פרעה in Hebrew — transliteration
- Φαραώ in Greek — transliteration
- Faraoh in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Pharaohs among us
people named Pharaoh are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 23,398 born in 2025 was named Pharaoh
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 Keir test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Pharaoh's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Keir climbed just as high around 1970, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Keir's path sketches the road Pharaoh is walking now.
Pharaoh 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 Pharaoh is headed
Pharaoh is easing off slowly — about 21% 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.
Pharaoh beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pharaoh in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That a word for the palace came to mean the king is a first-rate piece of history.
- The title is instantly recognized everywhere.
- Two clean syllables once the spelling is learned.
- It is a title rather than a personal name.
- The Exodus association casts the figure as an oppressor.
- The spelling is difficult and will be got wrong constantly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Pharaoh
Masculine · #2035 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pharaohs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,000 people named Pharaoh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pharaoh in 2025?
- Pharaoh ranks #2035 among US boy names in 2025, with 73 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pharaoh?
- About 1 in every 23,398 US boys born in 2025 was named Pharaoh — 73 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pharaoh with classmates?
- Pharaoh will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pharaoh
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Harland#2035 · Hudsyn#2035 · Tylin#2035 · Aamir#2035 · Casimir#2035 · Mavrick#2035 · Armin#2035 · Ezrael#2035
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pharaoh? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pharaoh and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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