Timber
Masculine · “wood for building”
Timber is given to both — 893 boys and 1,504 girls since 1880. See Timber as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Timber is the English word for wood cut for building, and it is much older than that sense — the Old English timber meant the act of building itself before it meant the material.
How old is the name Timber?
Timber first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Timber is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 900 people named Timber are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Timber most popular?
Timber peaked in 2020, reaching #2323 nationally. Today it ranks #3450, 1,127 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Timber
The word is one of the oldest in the Germanic vocabulary and its meaning has drifted in an interesting direction — from the building, to the act of building, to the stuff you build with. German kept the first sense and calls a room a Zimmer. The shout of timber before a falling tree is a nineteenth-century North American logging call. Its use as a given name is recent and belongs with the nature word-names of the last decade.
Meaning
wood for building
From Old English timber, which meant a building or the act of building as well as the wood; the same root gives German Zimmer, a room, and the verb to timber once meant to construct.
Pronouncing Timber
TIM-ber
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation in English.
Nicknames for Timber
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 boys named
- 202058 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2323reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- −10.8%33 in 2025, from 37
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.
Timber in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Zimmer in German — related form
- Timmer in Dutch — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Tennessee, Missouri, Texas.
Timbers among us
people named Timber are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 51,760 born in 2025 was named Timber
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 Rakesh test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Timber's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rakesh climbed just as high around 1972, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rakesh's path sketches the road Timber is walking now.
Timber 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 Timber is headed
Timber is easing off slowly — about 15% 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.
Timber beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Timber in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- An ordinary English word, so nobody has to be taught to say or spell it.
- Tim is a complete short form with centuries of English use.
- A settled meaning with a genuinely interesting history of drift behind it.
- The logging shout is the first association for most people and it means something is falling.
- A dating application of a very similar name is unavoidable for adults.
- It is used for both sexes in current records, so forms may guess wrong.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Timber to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Timber
Masculine · #3450 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Timbers 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 Timber are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Timber in 2025?
- Timber ranks #3450 among US boy names in 2025, with 33 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Timber?
- About 1 in every 51,760 US boys born in 2025 was named Timber — 33 in all.
- Will my child share the name Timber with classmates?
- Timber will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Timber
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Sabastian#3450 · Luc#3450 · Deshaun#3450 · Trayvon#3450 · Blade#3450 · Oz#3450 · Josiyah#3450 · Fausto#3450
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Timber? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Timber 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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