Stuart
Masculine · “keeper of the household”
Stuart is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 68,876 boys against 314 girls since 1880.
Stuart is the French spelling of a Scottish office. The hereditary High Stewards of Scotland took their job as a surname, inherited the throne, and Mary Queen of Scots brought the spelling back from France with a u.
How old is the name Stuart?
Stuart was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Stuart alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 46,500 people named Stuart are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Stuart most popular?
Stuart peaked in 1960, reaching #161 nationally. Today it ranks #2516, 2,355 places below that high. See the whole 1960 chart.
Where it comes from
From stigweard to Stuart
The story of Stuart
The hereditary High Stewards of Scotland took their office as a surname, and Robert Stewart inherited the crown in 1371. Mary Queen of Scots was raised in France, where there was no w, and adopted Stuart — which became the standard spelling of the royal house. Both spellings crossed into given-name use, and Stuart peaked in American records in the mid-1960s.
Meaning
keeper of the household; sty guardian
From the Old English stigweard — stig, an enclosure or hall, and weard, 'guardian'. The stig element is the same word as 'sty', which is why the etymology is often reported that way; in practice it meant the keeper of a great household's stores and lands, one of the highest offices a non-noble could hold.
How the name formed
- stigweard
- Stewart
- Stuart
Related forms: Stewart · Stiùbhart
Pronouncing Stuart
STOO-urt
Two syllables, stress on the first. Stuart and Stewart are said identically.
Nicknames for Stuart
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19602,074 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #161reached in 1960
- Change vs 2022
- −11.7%53 in 2025, from 60
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.
Stuart in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Stewart in English — spelling variant
- Stiùbhart in Scottish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Stuarts among us
people named Stuart are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 32,228 born in 2025 was named Stuart
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 Wilbert test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Stuart's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Wilbert climbed just as high around 1920, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Wilbert's path sketches the road Stuart is walking now.
Stuart 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 Stuart is headed
Stuart is easing off slowly — about 19% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Stuart beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Stuart in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented royal house and a real medieval office stand behind it.
- The reason for this particular spelling — French orthography and a queen's upbringing — is precisely documented.
- Stu is a short, plain form available immediately.
- Stewart is an equally established spelling and the two are constantly confused.
- It is closely dated to the middle of the twentieth century in American records.
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What they receive
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Stuart
Masculine · #2516 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Stuarts are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 46,500 people named Stuart are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Stuart in 2025?
- Stuart ranks #2516 among US boy names in 2025, with 53 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Stuart?
- About 1 in every 32,228 US boys born in 2025 was named Stuart — 53 in all.
- Will my child share the name Stuart with classmates?
- Stuart will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Stuart
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Austen#2516 · Jariel#2516 · Neymar#2516 · Tahir#2516 · Saleem#2516 · Rye#2516 · Alphonse#2516 · Jovi#2516
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Stuart? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Stuart and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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