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Fergus

#5,091 in 2025Boys' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Fergus has been given to 568 babies in the U.S. since 1916. In 2025 it ranked #5,091 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 24 recorded.

Babies named Fergus, 2025

1 in 174,000

Fergus over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Fergus: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Scottish Gaelic

What Fergus means

Fergus has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: “true” and “man + vigour”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Irish or Scottish Gaelic Fearghas. The first element may be related to modern fìor (“true”) or fear (“man”) (cf. Fearchar). The second element has been understood to mean 'choice' (cf. Angus). Thus the name means either "most chosen one" or "chosen man".

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Fergus is used in English, Cebuano and Old Irish. Its origins include Scottish Gaelic.

Fergus comes through Irish Fearghas and Scottish Gaelic Fearghas.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Fergus is pronounced /ˈfɝɡəs/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 568 boys were recorded with the name Fergus between 1916 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 24 in 2024; its best national rank was #2,759 in 1918.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #6,401 in 2020 to #5,091 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #4,594 in 2015 to #5,091 in 2025.

How common is Fergus?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 174,000
19 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 89,900
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#5,091
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
120,943 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Fergus 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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 120,943 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Fergus. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ferguss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Fergus was born before 2007 — so the typical Fergus is around 18 today.

Median birth year
2007
About 18 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
25.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
58.3%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
503
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 25.0% of all recorded uses (142).

Is Fergus 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
−740
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,310
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−497
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.90×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
79.2%
Peak was 2024 (24)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
39.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,759
1918

Spellings of Fergus

Fergus is not the most common spelling — Ferris is, with 71.6% against Fergus's 14.3%.

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 Fergus is used

Across 1910–2025, Fergus was most concentrated in Minnesota — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,101,679 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Minnesota1 in —
  2. 2New York1 in —

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. Fergus has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Fergus around the world

Where Fergus 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
    1996–2025
    #396
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1974–2025
    #91
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    1997–2023
    #348
    in 2023
  • Ireland
    1964–2025
    #829
    in 2025
  • France
    1995–2025
    #5,259
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1995–2024
    #1,281
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1946–2012
    #385
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Fergus by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#5,091
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,310
Best rank ever
#2,759
1918
Peak year
2024
24 that year
First recorded
1916
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
568
Count in 2025
19

Names similar to Fergus

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

FermanFerasFerranFerrisFerrelFernieFermonFerlinFerminFerdieAengusFernFergusonFerdFernandFerronArgusFernanFerrellFernadoFernandezFerrariFerencFerry

Sibling names for Fergus

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 Fergus

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