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Buck

#1,993 in 2025Boys' name

Short form of Burkhard

Buck has been given to 6,610 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #1,993 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1919, with 102 recorded.

Babies named Buck, 2025

1 in 43,600

Buck over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Buck: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Burkhard

Old English

What Buck means

Buck is a short form of Burkhard.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

* For both the English surname and given name, originally a nickname for someone who resembled a buck. * Also as an English topographic surname, from Middle English buk (modern beech). * As a German and Dutch surname, shortened from Burkhard, compare Burkhart. * As a north German and Danish surname, from Middle Low German bûk (“belly”), from Old Saxon būk, from Proto-West Germanic *būk, from Proto-Germanic *būkaz.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Buck (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Buck is used in English. Its origins include Old English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Burkhard.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Buck is pronounced /bʌk/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6,610 boys were recorded with the name Buck between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 102 in 1919; its best national rank was #365 in 1910.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #2,732 in 2020 to #1,993 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #3,893 in 2015 to #1,993 in 2025.

How common is Buck?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 43,600
76 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 22,500
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,993
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
30,237 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Buck sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5001%

Put another way: gather 30,237 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Buck. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Bucks were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Buck was born before 1954 — so the typical Buck is around 71 today.

Median birth year
1954
About 71 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
11.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
12.9%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
3,479
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 11.5% of all recorded uses (759).

Is Buck rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+485
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+739
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,900
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.81×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
74.5%
Peak was 1919 (102)
Years since peak
106
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
27.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#365
1910

Spellings of Buck

Buck is not the most common spelling — Jack is, with 48.3% against Buck's 0.42%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Buck is used

Across 2016–2025, Buck was most concentrated in Oregon — about 1 in 16,667 boys, against 1 in 75,527 across all states with data. It was least common in California (1 in —).

06 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Oregon1 in 16,667
  2. 2Utah1 in 33,333
  3. 3Ohio1 in 50,000
  4. 4Texas1 in 50,000
  5. 5Florida1 in 100,000
  6. 6Georgia1 in 100,000
  7. 7Michigan1 in 100,000
  8. 8Tennessee1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Buck around the world

Where Buck ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2011–2011
    #4,647
    in 2011
  • Canada
    2019–2024
    #2,550
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1976–1996
    #540
    in 1996

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Buck

People whose public names include Buck, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Buck by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,993
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 739
Best rank ever
#365
1910
Peak year
1919
102 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
6,610
Count in 2025
76

Names similar to Buck

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

HuckChuckBuckyBuckleyTuckLuckBuchananBuckleeBuckieBuckeyBucknerStarbuckGoodluck

Names with a curve like Buck

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Buck, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

AntoneEvansRubinLeanderRichmondLafayetteRuebenElginNapoleonLemuelOrinBenjiman

Sibling names for Buck

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Buck

Top names of 1919, Buck's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1910Boys' names starting with BAnimal-Inspired NamesEnglish Boy NamesOld English Boy NamesRugged Boy Names