Scotty
Masculine · “a Scot”
Scotty is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 19,030 boys against 359 girls since 1880.
Scotty is Scott with the friendly -y ending English has been adding to names since at least the Middle Ages, the same move that gave us Tommy from Thomas and Danny from Daniel. Behind it sits one of the oldest identity words in the British Isles: the Latin Scoti, used by late-antique writers for Gaelic-speaking raiders out of Ireland long before the country of Scotland took the name. Two syllables, both landing hard and clean.
How old is the name Scotty?
Scotty first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Scotty alive today was born around 1972, making them about 53 years old. About 16,500 people named Scotty are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Scotty most popular?
Scotty peaked in 1971, reaching #210 nationally. Today it ranks #1393, 1,183 places below that high. See the whole 1971 chart.
Where it comes from
From Scoti to Scotty
The story of Scotty
Scott began in medieval England and the Anglo-Scottish borders as a byname for someone who was Scottish, or who had come south from Scotland — the kind of label neighbors give a newcomer, which then hardens into a surname. Border families carried it for centuries, and it crossed the Atlantic with them. Like many British surnames, it turned into a first name in the United States, where Scotty arrived as its affectionate short form and then stayed on as a full given name in its own right, holding a place on the American charts continuously for more than a hundred years.
Meaning
a Scot; someone from Scotland
Worth knowing that the word traveled: Latin writers first used Scoti for the Gaels of Ireland, and only later did it attach to the land they settled in the north of Britain.
How the name formed
- Scoti
- Scottsurname
- Scott
- Scotty
Related forms: Scott · Scottie · Scot
Pronouncing Scotty
SKOT-ee
One pronunciation everywhere in English, with the stress on the first syllable. No one will need to ask twice.
Nicknames for Scotty
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
- 1972757 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #210reached in 1971
- Change vs 2023
- +84.5%131 in 2025, from 71
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.
Scotty in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Scott in English — same name
- Scottie in English — spelling variant
- Scot in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Utah, Florida.
Scottys among us
people named Scotty are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 13,039 born in 2025 was named Scotty
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 Eldon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Scotty's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Eldon climbed just as high around 1927, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Eldon's path sketches the road Scotty is walking now.
Scotty is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Scotty is headed
Scotty looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 46% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Scotty beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Scotty in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everybody can spell it on hearing it, and everybody can say it — a rare pairing for a name that isn't common.
- It comes with a ready-made formal version in Scott, so a Scotty can grow into a longer signature without changing names.
- More than a century of unbroken use in American records, so it is familiar to every generation without being crowded.
- A clear, cheerful sound that works at any volume across a playground or a room.
- It reads as a nickname to many ears. Some people will assume the birth certificate says Scott and will address him that way; if the short form is the whole name, expect to correct that from time to time.
- Scotty and Scottie are both in real use, so there will be a lifetime of small spelling clarifications. The Scottie spelling also turns up for girls, and doubles as the everyday word for a Scottish terrier.
- The name says Scotland out loud. That is a gift if there is a Scottish thread in the family, and a conversation you'll field politely if there isn't.
- It is strongly represented among people now in middle age, so it may register as a generational name to some — though that is exactly the pattern that precedes a return.
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What they receive
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Scotty
Masculine · #1393 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Scottys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 16,500 people named Scotty are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Scotty in 2025?
- Scotty ranks #1393 among US boy names in 2025, with 131 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Scotty?
- About 1 in every 13,039 US boys born in 2025 was named Scotty — 131 in all.
- Will my child share the name Scotty with classmates?
- Scotty will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Scotty
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Cam#1393 · Marley#1393 · Aviel#1393 · Jules#1393 · Scout#1393 · Sakai#1393 · Aariv#1393 · Amar#1388
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Scotty? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Scotty and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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