Worth
Masculine · “value or worthiness”
There are two Old English words hiding under Worth. One is weorth, value, which gives the modern English noun and the virtue reading. The other is worthig, an enclosed homestead, which is the -worth at the end of Tamworth, Kenilworth and Wandsworth. The name can descend from either, and usually nobody knows which.
How old is the name Worth?
Worth was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Worth alive today was born around 1930, making them about 95 years old. About 700 people named Worth are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Worth most popular?
Worth peaked in 1898, reaching #573 nationally. Today it ranks #6446, 5,873 places below that high. See the whole 1898 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From weorth to Worth
The story of Worth
American virtue names have two quite separate periods. The Puritan wave of the seventeenth century produced Increase, Thankful, Remember and Wrestling; the second and much softer wave, running through the nineteenth century, produced Worth, True, Justice and Verity, and it was as much a Southern and frontier habit as a New England one. Worth also arrived independently as a surname turned given name, which is how most English place-name words became American first names. Its best year on record is 1898, in the middle of that second wave, and it has been very rare since the 1930s.
Meaningscholars disagree
value or worthiness, or an enclosed farmstead
Old English weorth means worthy, valuable or of a price, and gives the modern noun. Old English worth and worthig mean an enclosure or a homestead with a fence around it, and give the very common English place-name ending. The two are related at the root but had separated in meaning long before English was written down. A surname Worth is normally from the place-name element; a given name Worth in nineteenth-century America is usually reaching for the virtue.
How the name formed
- weorth
- worth
- Worth
Related forms: Worthy · Wert
Pronouncing Worth
WURTH
One syllable, with the vowel of word and a voiceless th as in earth. Identical in sound to the English noun.
Nicknames for Worth
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
- 191867 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #573reached in 1898
- Change vs 2023
- −31.6%13 in 2025, from 19
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.
Worth in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Worthy in English — related form
- Wert in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina.
Worths among us
people named Worth are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 131,390 born in 2025 was named Worth
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
Worth 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
Worth beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Worth in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, five letters, and no possible mispronunciation.
- A genuine English word with a documented double history behind it.
- Very rare today while being entirely familiar as a word.
- It is an ordinary English noun, which means it turns up in sentences about the child.
- The virtue reading places an expectation on a person, which not every family wants.
- Almost nobody has met it as a name and it will always draw a comment.
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What they receive
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Worth
Masculine · #6446 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Worths are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Worth are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Worth in 2025?
- Worth ranks #6446 among US boy names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Worth?
- About 1 in every 131,390 US boys born in 2025 was named Worth — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Worth with classmates?
- Worth will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Worth
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rollie#6446 · Billie#6446 · Blas#6446 · Starling#6446 · Alvis#6446 · Elwyn#6446 · Sal#6446 · Rollin#6446
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Worth? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Worth and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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