Tucker
Masculine · Old English roots · “fuller of cloth”
Tucker is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 55,150 boys against 404 girls since 1880.
Tucker began as a job: in the wool towns of southwest England, the tucker was the man who took woven cloth and pounded, washed and stretched it into something soft enough to wear. The word became a surname, the surname became a first name, and it still sounds like what it is — two plain syllables that land squarely and end in the easy -er that Parker and Walker share.
How old is the name Tucker?
Tucker first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Tucker is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 54,000 people named Tucker are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tucker most popular?
Tucker peaked in 2016, reaching #173 nationally. Today it ranks #181, 8 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Where it comes from
From tūcian (Old English, to full or beat cloth) to Tucker
The story of Tucker
The trade behind the name was fulling: cleansing and thickening newly woven cloth, once done by foot and hand, later by water-driven mills. Medieval England had three regional words for the same worker — fuller in the southeast, walker in the north, and tucker in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset — and each hardened into a surname where it was spoken. Tucker families carried theirs from the West Country to America, where the surname spread widely, and by the nineteenth century Americans had begun putting it in the first-name slot, the way they did with Parker, Carter and Walker. The recent wave is only the most visible chapter of a much older habit.
Meaning
fuller of cloth — one who tucked and finished woven wool
How the name formed
- tūcianOld English, to full or beat cloth
- toukereMiddle English, cloth-fuller
- TuckerEnglish West Country surname
- Tuckergiven name
Pronouncing Tucker
TUK-er
One settled pronunciation: first syllable like 'luck'. English speakers say it correctly on first sight, and spell it correctly on first hearing.
Nicknames for Tucker
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
- 1884
- Most boys named
- 20162,311 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #173reached in 2016
- Change vs 2023
- +10.9%2,008 in 2025, from 1,810
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.
Tucker in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Ohio, North Carolina.
Tuckers among us
people named Tucker are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 851 born in 2025 was named Tucker
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 Forrest test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tucker's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Forrest climbed just as high around 1913, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Forrest's path sketches the road Tucker is walking now.
Tucker 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 Tucker is headed
Tucker 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.
Tucker beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tucker in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Transparent spelling and sound — almost no one will need it repeated or corrected.
- A ready-made one-syllable short form, Tuck, that has existed as long as the surname has.
- A documented occupational meaning, tied to a specific English region and a real medieval trade.
- Sits naturally with the -er surname names now common in American classrooms, so it never sounds out of place on a roster.
- Used as a first name in America for well over a century, long before its current visibility.
- Right now the best-known adult bearer in the US is the broadcaster Tucker Carlson, a strongly polarizing figure. Reactions to the name will vary by household, and that association may fade or may not.
- Because its rise is so recent, Tucker reads as a young person's name today; there are far fewer grown men carrying it than boys. That corrects itself as its bearers age.
- It is also a well-used American dog name, which occasionally earns a comment. Most families find that wears off quickly.
- As a surname-first name, it can be read as a last name on forms and get shuffled into the wrong field — easily fixed, mildly recurring.
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What they receive
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Tucker
Masculine · Old English roots · #181 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tuckers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 54,000 people named Tucker are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tucker in 2025?
- Tucker ranks #181 among US boy names in 2025, with 2,008 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tucker?
- About 1 in every 851 US boys born in 2025 was named Tucker — 2,008 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tucker with classmates?
- Tucker will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tucker
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ryker#182 · Cole#182 · Max#180 · Emmanuel#179 · Judah#178 · Jesse#184 · Amari#185 · Nicolas#177
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tucker? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tucker and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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