Quaid
Masculine · “son of Walter”
Quaid is Irish, and it is a Walter in disguise. Mac Uaid means son of Uat, and Uat was how Irish rendered Walter after the Normans brought that name across; English clerks heard the whole patronymic as McQuaid, and the second half became a name of its own in America.
How old is the name Quaid?
Quaid first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Quaid alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 900 people named Quaid are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Quaid most popular?
Quaid peaked in 1991, reaching #2544 nationally. Today it ranks #4857, 2,313 places below that high. See the whole 1991 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Walter to Quaid
The story of Quaid
The Normans brought Walter to Ireland, Irish speakers reshaped it as Uat, and the patronymic Mac Uaid produced the surname McQuaid, found across Ulster and north Leinster. Irish emigration carried it to America in the nineteenth century. Dropping the Mac and using the rest as a first name is a modern American habit rather than an Irish one, and Quaid belongs to the same short, hard set as Quinn, Flynn and Beck that parents have been drawing on for two decades.
Meaning
son of Walter
Irish Mac Uaid, son of Uat, the Irish form of Walter. Walter itself is Germanic, from wald, rule, and heri, army: a commander of an army. The chain is well documented at every link.
How the name formed
- Walter
- Uat
- Mac Uaid
- Quaid
Related forms: Mac Uaid · Walter
Pronouncing Quaid
KWAYD
One syllable, rhyming with made. The qu is a hard kw; nothing in it is silent.
Nicknames for Quaid
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
- 1971
- Most boys named
- 200837 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2544reached in 1991
- Change vs 2024
- +33.3%20 in 2025, from 15
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.
Quaid in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mac Uaid in Irish — related form
- Walter in English — related form
Quaids among us
people named Quaid are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 85,404 born in 2025 was named Quaid
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 Sion test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Quaid's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sion climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sion's path sketches the road Quaid is walking now.
Quaid 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
Quaid beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Quaid in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and five letters: fast to write and impossible to mispronounce.
- It carries a documented Irish surname with a traceable Norman ancestor.
- The Q gives it a distinctive look on paper without making it hard to read.
- It is best known as an American acting surname, and the association is strong.
- A one-syllable name gives nothing to shorten and no change of register.
- Quaid and Quade both appear, so the spelling will be asked for.
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What they receive
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Quaid
Masculine · #4857 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Quaids 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 Quaid are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Quaid in 2025?
- Quaid ranks #4857 among US boy names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Quaid?
- About 1 in every 85,404 US boys born in 2025 was named Quaid — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Quaid with classmates?
- Quaid will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Quaid
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Carlyle#4857 · Russ#4857 · Hercules#4857 · Marcial#4857 · Lauro#4857 · Marin#4857 · Gil#4857 · Aloysius#4857
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Quaid? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Quaid and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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