Name Awesome

Conway

#1,287 in 2025Boys' name

Possibly foremost water

Conway has been given to 2,932 babies in the U.S. since 1881. In 2025 it ranked #1,287 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 152 recorded.

Babies named Conway, 2025

1 in 21,800

Conway over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Conway: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly foremost water

surname transfer

What Conway means

Conway may mean “foremost water”.

Origin, language, and formation

Conway is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Conway comes through Welsh Conwy.

Conway is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Conwy.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Conway is pronounced /ˈkɒnweɪ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,921 boys were recorded with the name Conway between 1881 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 152 in 2025; its best national rank was #894 in 1881.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #2,003 in 2020 to #1,287 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,362 in 2015 to #1,287 in 2025.

In the United States, 11 girls were recorded with the name Conway between 2021 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 6 in 2021; its best national rank was #13,867 in 2021.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Conway?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 21,800
152 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 11,200
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,287
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
15,119 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Conway 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 5002%

Put another way: gather 15,119 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Conway. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Conways were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Conway was born before 1975 — so the typical Conway is around 50 today.

Median birth year
1975
About 50 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
20.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
39.4%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,924
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 20.1% of all recorded uses (588).

Is Conway 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
+244
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+716
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,075
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.76×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (152)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
22.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#894
1881

Spellings of Conway

Conway is not the most common spelling — Conrad is, with 74.6% against Conway's 5.5%.

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 Conway is used

Across 2016–2025, Conway was most concentrated in Minnesota — about 1 in 16,667 boys, against 1 in 35,335 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in 100,000).

16 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Minnesota1 in 16,667
  2. 2Texas1 in 16,667
  3. 3Kentucky1 in 20,000
  4. 4North Carolina1 in 20,000
  5. 5Oklahoma1 in 20,000
  6. 6Tennessee1 in 20,000
  7. 7Iowa1 in 25,000
  8. 8Missouri1 in 25,000

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.

Conway around the world

Where Conway 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
    1996–1997
    #1,761
    in 1997
  • Canada
    1992–2024
    #2,550
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1964–1982
    #424
    in 1982

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 Conway

People whose public names include Conway, 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.

Conway by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,287
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 716
Best rank ever
#894
1881
Peak year
2025
152 that year
First recorded
1881
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,921
Count in 2025
152

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#13,867
2021
Peak year
2021
6 that year
First recorded
2021
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
11
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Conway

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

ConleyConanConradoConlanConnellConallConnieConroyConlinConardConradConnarConnerConorConleeCallowayCallawayConnorConstantinoConstantineConnellyConstantConnyConnery

Names with a curve like Conway

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

HollandHanselCosmoRushLevyOrsonEllisonTheophilusFultonTheodorMurphyWest

Sibling names for Conway

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 Conway

Top names of 2025, Conway's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1881Boys' names starting with C