Urban
Masculine · “Of the city”
Urban is a Latin adjective — of the city — that eight popes carried and that the English language turned into an ordinary word. It was a normal American boy's name in the nineteenth century, peaked in the 1890s, and has been almost entirely absent since the 1950s.
How old is the name Urban?
Urban was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Urban alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 1,100 people named Urban are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Urban most popular?
Urban peaked in 1894, reaching #419 nationally. Today it ranks #5208, 4,789 places below that high. See the whole 1894 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Urbanus to Urban
The story of Urban
Urbanus is greeted by Paul in Romans 16, which gave the name Christian standing early. Eight popes took it, of whom Urban II preached the First Crusade at Clermont in 1095 and Urban VIII presided over Galileo's trial. That papal weight made it an ordinary Catholic name across central Europe, especially in Poland, Slovenia and the German lands, and German and Slovene immigrants brought it to America in the nineteenth century. Its American peak in the 1890s belongs to those families. It fell away with the rest of the Latin saints' names after the Second World War, and the football coach Urban Meyer, born in 1964, has for decades been almost the only bearer most Americans could name.
Meaning
Of the city, refined
From Latin urbanus, belonging to the city, from urbs. The word carried the same secondary sense of polished or courteous in Latin that it does in English, and the personal name is simply the adjective used as a name. The reading is not in dispute.
How the name formed
- Urbanus
- Urban
Related forms: Urbanus · Urban · Urban · Urban · Urbano · Urbain
Pronouncing Urban
UR-bun
Two syllables, stress on the first, exactly like the English adjective. Central European speakers give the second vowel more value: OOR-bahn.
Nicknames for Urban
Limited
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
- 1924104 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #419reached in 1894
- Change vs 2022
- −25.0%18 in 2025, from 24
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.
Urban in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Urbanus in Latin — related form
- Urban in Polish — same name
- Urban in German — same name
- Urban in Slovene — same name
- Urbano in Italian — related form
- Urbain in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Ohio.
Urbans among us
people named Urban are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 94,893 born in 2025 was named Urban
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Urban 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
Urban beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Urban in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, short and easy to explain.
- It has an unbroken record of Christian use since the first century.
- It is spelled the same in English, German, Polish and Slovene.
- It is an everyday English adjective, and in American usage urban has acquired coded meanings the name cannot escape.
- It has been rare on American boys for seventy years.
- The papal association is strong and may not be wanted.
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What they receive
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Urban
Masculine · #5208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Urbans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Urban are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Urban in 2025?
- Urban ranks #5208 among US boy names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Urban?
- About 1 in every 94,893 US boys born in 2025 was named Urban — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Urban with classmates?
- Urban will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Urban
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rodger#5208 · Eusebio#5208 · Boy#5208 · Randal#5208 · Gable#5208 · Jessy#5208 · Kelby#5208 · Jens#5208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Urban? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Urban and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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