Scarlett
Feminine · Old French roots · “From scarlet”
Scarlett is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 111,687 girls against 52 boys since 1880.
Before it was anyone's first name, Scarlett was a surname in medieval England, borne by families who dyed or sold scarlet cloth — at the time a fine imported fabric, prized long before the word settled into meaning a color. Then Margaret Mitchell handed it to a character in her 1936 novel, and it stepped off the page into birth registers, where it has stayed ever since. Two crisp syllables, stress on the first, and no argument about how to say it.
How old is the name Scarlett?
Scarlett first appears in US birth records in 1937 — 88 years ago. The typical Scarlett is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 111,000 people named Scarlett are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Scarlett most popular?
Scarlett peaked in 2022, reaching #14 nationally. Today it ranks #32, 18 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Where it comes from
From escarlate (Old French, a fine cloth) to Scarlett
The story of Scarlett
The word traveled west into Old French as escarlate and into Middle English as scarlat, naming an expensive imported fabric. From it came the English surname Scarlett, attested for centuries in records before anyone thought to put it in front of a family name. Its life as a given name begins with fiction: Margaret Mitchell's heroine was Katie Scarlett O'Hara, named in the novel for her grandmother, and the 1936 book and the film that followed sent the name into American use for the first time. It stayed quiet for decades, then rose sharply in the English-speaking world, helped along in recent years by the visibility of the American actress Scarlett Johansson.
Meaning
From scarlet — the cloth, and later the color; originally an occupational surname for a dyer or seller of scarlet cloth
The English surname comes through Old French escarlate, a word for a costly cloth. Only later did scarlet come to name the red itself, which is why the name reads today as a color word rather than a trade.
Cultural footprint
Scarlett Johansson (b. 1984) — Marvel's Black Widow, once the world's highest-paid actress
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- escarlateOld French, a fine cloth
- scarlatMiddle English
- ScarlettEnglish surname
- Scarlettgiven name
Related forms: Scarlet · Scarlette · Scarlotte
Pronouncing Scarlett
SKAR-lit
Stress on the first syllable. The second is said either -lit or -let depending on accent, and both pass without comment. English speakers read it correctly on sight because it is also an everyday word.
Nicknames for Scarlett
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
- 1939 — Gone with the Wind premieres
- 2003 — Scarlett Johansson's breakout roles
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1937
- Most girls named
- 20167,720 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #14reached in 2022
- Change vs 2023
- −10.7%5,644 in 2025, from 6,318
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.
Scarlett in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Scarlet in English — spelling variant
- Scarlette in English — spelling variant
- Scarlotte in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. International figures from Statistics Canada, Office for National Statistics. Sources
Scarletts among us
people named Scarlett are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 285 born in 2025 was named Scarlett
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Scarlett
- #32
- Scarlett on the 2025 chart
- #26
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Scarlett went to 5,644 girls in 2025, but Scarlet and Skarlett are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 6,311, which makes it the 26th most-given girls’ name of the year — 6 places above the chart.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 255 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 285 for Scarlett 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 Christine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Scarlett's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Christine climbed just as high around 1967, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Christine's path sketches the road Scarlett is walking now.
Scarlett is coming down from a big peak (#14 in 2022). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Scarlett is headed
Scarlett should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Scarlett beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Scarlett in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Pronounced correctly on sight by any English speaker — it is a word people already know how to say.
- A documented surname in England for centuries before it became a first name, so the record behind it is long and real.
- In steady use across the United States, Canada and Britain, with the same spelling and sound in all three.
- Offers genuine short forms — Lettie and Letty — for anyone who wants something softer than the full name.
- The color word takes one t; the name usually takes two. Expect a lifetime of gently correcting Scarlet to Scarlett.
- The name arrived in English through one famous novel about the antebellum South, a book now widely criticized for how it portrays slavery. Some parents mind that link; many no longer think of it.
- Scar is the obvious clipping, and children find it fast. Worth knowing in advance rather than being surprised by it.
- This name's wave is very recent, so it reads clearly as belonging to a young generation — though she is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Scarlett to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Scarlett? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Scarlett
Feminine · Old French roots · #32 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Scarletts are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 111,000 people named Scarlett are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Scarlett?
- Scarlett is the most-used spelling in US records — 5,644 of the 6,311 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Scarlet and Skarlett.
- How popular is the name Scarlett in 2025?
- Scarlett ranks #32 among US girl names in 2025, with 5,644 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Scarlett?
- About 1 in every 285 US girls born in 2025 was named Scarlett — 5,644 in all.
- Will my child share the name Scarlett with classmates?
- Scarlett will almost certainly be the only one in school.
- What explains the spikes and dips on Scarlett's chart?
- Scarlett climbed after 1939 — Gone with the Wind premieres. Scarlett climbed after 2003 — Scarlett Johansson's breakout roles.
Ranked beside Scarlett
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zoe#31 · Gianna#33 · Lainey#30 · Emily#34 · Valentina#35 · Ella#29 · Layla#36 · Isla#28
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Scarlett? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Scarlett and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
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; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle