Spirit
Feminine · “breath”
Spirit is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 857 girls against 16 boys since 1880.
Spirit is a breath. The Latin spiritus meant breathing before it meant anything else, and the metaphor is one of the oldest there is: Hebrew, Greek and Latin all use the same word for wind, for breath and for the part of a person that is not the body.
How old is the name Spirit?
Spirit first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Spirit alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 900 people named Spirit are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Spirit most popular?
Spirit peaked in 2003, reaching #2737 nationally. Today it ranks #5099, 2,362 places below that high. See the whole 2003 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From spirare to Spirit
The story of Spirit
Word-names for qualities have been given in English since the Puritans used Faith, Hope, Grace and Prudence, and the practice never entirely stopped. A newer set arrived in the late twentieth century, less austere and more expansive: Serenity, Destiny, Journey, Trinity and Spirit. The word itself came into English from Latin through French in the thirteenth century, and it is one of very few words that means the same thing in the church, in a distillery and on a sports field.
Meaning
breath; the animating part of a person
Latin spiritus, a breathing, from spirare, to breathe, which gives inspire, respire and expire. Hebrew ruach and Greek pneuma work the same way, meaning wind, breath and spirit at once.
How the name formed
- spirare
- spiritus
- spirit
- Spirit
Related forms: Espíritu · Esprit
Pronouncing Spirit
SPEER-it
Two syllables, stress in front, exactly as the word. There is no other reading.
Nicknames for Spirit
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
- 1975
- Most girls named
- 200357 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2737reached in 2003
- Change vs 2024
- −16.7%25 in 2025, from 30
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.
Spirit in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Espíritu in Spanish — related form
- Esprit in French — related form
Spirits among us
people named Spirit are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 64,291 born in 2025 was named Spirit
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 Tita test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Spirit's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tita climbed just as high around 1940, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tita's path sketches the road Spirit is walking now.
Spirit 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 Spirit is headed
Spirit 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.
Spirit beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Spirit in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is plain English and needs no explaining anywhere.
- Everyone can spell it and say it after hearing it once.
- It sits within an established American group of word-names rather than standing alone.
- It is a word in constant everyday use, so the child hears her own name in unrelated sentences.
- The word means several quite different things depending on the setting, from theology to alcohol.
- There is no traditional short form, so a family that wants one will be inventing it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Spirit 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 Spirit? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Spirit
Feminine · #5099 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Spirits 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 Spirit are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Spirit in 2025?
- Spirit ranks #5099 among US girl names in 2025, with 25 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Spirit?
- About 1 in every 64,291 US girls born in 2025 was named Spirit — 25 in all.
- Will my child share the name Spirit with classmates?
- Spirit will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Spirit
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Janette#5099 · Loraine#5099 · Delfina#5099 · Hali#5099 · Mecca#5099 · Zoi#5099 · Afia#5099 · Emelie#5099
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Spirit? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Spirit 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.
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. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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