Spencer
Feminine · Latin roots · “steward”
Spencer is given to both — 5,707 girls and 123,931 boys since 1880. See Spencer as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Spencer began as a job title in medieval English households — the person who kept the stores and handed out the provisions. It became a surname, then the name of one of England's great aristocratic families, and eventually a first name that has stayed on American rolls for as long as those rolls have existed. Two crisp syllables, and everyone can spell it on the first try.
How old is the name Spencer?
Spencer first appears in US birth records in 1922 — 103 years ago. The typical Spencer is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 5,600 people named Spencer are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Spencer most popular?
Spencer peaked in 2017, reaching #978 nationally. Today it ranks #1022, 44 places below that high. See the whole 2017 chart.
Spencer appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From dispensare (Latin, to weigh out, distribute) to Spencer
The story of Spencer
The word came into English with the Normans: a great house needed someone to manage its larder, and that man was the spencer. As with baker, smith and cooper, the office hardened into a family name, carried in its fuller Anglo-Norman form as le Despenser. The Spencer family of Althorp made the surname famous across centuries of English public life, and by the nineteenth century American parents were doing what they did with many admired English surnames — moving it to the front of the name. It has been in continuous use here ever since, never a fad, never absent.
Meaning
steward; the one who dispenses provisions
From Middle English spencer, a shortening of Anglo-French espencier — the officer in charge of a household's pantry and stores. The same Latin root, dispensare, gives English dispense and dispensary.
How the name formed
- dispensareLatin, to weigh out, distribute
- despensier / espencierOld French, Anglo-Norman
- le DespenserAnglo-Norman surname
- SpencerEnglish surname
- Spencergiven name
Related forms: Spence · Despenser · Spenser
Pronouncing Spencer
SPEN-sur
Stress on the first syllable. Pronounced the same in British and American English; no regional variants to negotiate.
Nicknames for Spencer
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
- 1922
- Most girls named
- 2017267 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #978reached in 2017
- Change vs 2024
- +12.9%245 in 2025, from 217
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.
Spencer in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Spence in English (Scottish) — related form
- Despenser in Anglo-Norman — related form
- Spenser in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, North Carolina.
Spencers among us
people named Spencer are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 6,560 born in 2025 was named Spencer
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 Maebell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Spencer's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Maebell climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Maebell's path sketches the road Spencer is walking now.
Spencer 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 Spencer is headed
Spencer 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.
Spencer beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Spencer in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Instantly spellable and instantly readable — one accepted spelling that English speakers already know from the surname.
- On the American record continuously since records began, without the steep rise and fall that dates a name to one decade.
- Has a real, long-established short form in Spence, so there is a casual option without inventing one.
- Works identically in British and American English, which matters for a family with ties on both sides.
- Surname-style names like this sit easily beside almost any middle name and family name.
- Most Spencers are boys, and a girl named Spencer will meet paperwork, teachers and coaches who assume otherwise until corrected. Families who choose it for a daughter usually decide in advance how much they mind that.
- Spenser, with an s, is a genuine historical spelling — the Elizabethan poet used it — so occasional misspellings are likely, though the c-version is the default people reach for.
- As a surname-first name it shares a lane with Parker, Sawyer and Carter, so it may sound of a piece with classmates' names even though the name itself is much older than that trend.
- Common enough to be familiar to everyone, uncommon enough that a child is unlikely to share it with anyone in their year.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Spencer
Feminine · Latin roots · #1022 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Spencers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,600 people named Spencer are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Spencer in 2025?
- Spencer ranks #1022 among US girl names in 2025, with 245 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Spencer?
- About 1 in every 6,560 US girls born in 2025 was named Spencer — 245 in all.
- Will my child share the name Spencer with classmates?
- Spencer will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Spencer
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Yamileth#1022 · Cadence#1022 · Serafina#1022 · Maylee#1022 · Dana#1027 · Waverly#1027 · Beverly#1016 · Marjorie#1016
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Spencer? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Spencer and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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