Fain
UnisexBoys' nameGirls' nameMeaning not yet documented
Fain has been given to 77 babies in the U.S. since 1920. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1932, with 9 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 92% boys, 8% girls all-time.
Babies named Fain, 2016
1 in 734,000
Fain over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
Girls or boys — Fain over time
In 2016, Fain went to 0% girls and 100% boys.
A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.
How common is Fain?
Fain had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2016, the last year it was published.
- Among all babies, 2016
- 1 in 734,000
- 5 of 3,669,531 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 380,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2016
- Unranked
- Fewer than 5 uses
- Coin-flip room size
- 508,706 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Fain sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 2016 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 508,706 children born in 2016 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Fain. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Fains were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Fain was born before 1932 — so the typical Fain is around 93 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1920s
- 39.4% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 7.0%
- Mostly a past generation
- Recorded since 1950
- 20
- People you could plausibly meet
1920s — 39.4% of all recorded uses (28).
Is Fain 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
- —
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- New entry
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Births vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not published both years
- Share of its own peak
- 0%
- Peak was 1932 (9)
- Years since peak
- 93
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Steady
- 9.0% average annual change
Spellings of Fain
Fain is not the most common spelling — Ian is, with 23.6% against Fain's <0.01%.
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.
Fain by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a boy's name
Names similar to Fain
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Fain
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.