Fleming

Boys' name

Flowing, current (water)

Fleming has been given to 1,017 babies in the U.S. since 1880. 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 1917, with 27 recorded.

Babies named Fleming, 2006

1 in 791,000

Fleming over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Fleming: meaning, origin, and history

Flowing, current (water)

surname transfer

What Fleming means

Fleming means “flowing, current (water)”, associated with flaumaz.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Middle English flameng, from late Old Norse Flæmingi, from Old Norse Flǽmingr, Middle Dutch Vlaminc, Vleminc, from Old Frisian (unattested) (compare West Frisian Flaming), from Proto-Germanic *flaumaz (“flowing, current (water)”) and the patronymic suffix *-ingaz (“belonging to, descended from”). More at Flanders.

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

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

Fleming comes through Middle English flameng, Old Norse Flæmingi, Old Norse Flǽmingr, Middle Dutch Vlaminc and Proto-Germanic *flaumaz.

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

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Fleming is pronounced /ˈflɛmɪŋ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,017 boys were recorded with the name Fleming between 1880 and 2006. Its highest annual count was 27 in 1917; its best national rank was #661 in 1883.

How common is Fleming?

Fleming had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2006, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2006: 1 in 791,000; 5 of 3,956,166 births
Among boys only: 1 in 411,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2006: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 548,442 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Fleming 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 2006 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 548,442 children born in 2006 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Fleming. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Flemings were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Fleming was born before 1930 — so the typical Fleming is around 95 today.

Median birth year: 1930; About 95 years old
Biggest decade: 1910s; 17.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 0.98%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 258; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1910s — 17.7% of all recorded uses (180).

Is Fleming 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 1917 (27)
Years since peak: 108; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 16.2% average annual change
Best rank ever: #661; 1883

Where Fleming is used

Across 1910–2025, Fleming was most concentrated in Georgia — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 391,168 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Georgia1 in —
2North Carolina1 in —
3Virginia1 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. Fleming has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Fleming by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #661; 1883
Peak year: 1917; 27 that year
First recorded: 1880
Last recorded: 2006
All-time count: 1,017
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Fleming

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

Harding Flemming Manning Starling Stirling Kipling Erling Redding Henning Blessing Miking Lansing Erving Loring Fletcher Aking Fielding Pershing Grayling Channing Ewing Hilding Flemon Jahking

Sibling names for Fleming

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

For a sister

Albina Nelle Orpha Antonette Harriette Winnifred Maurine Johnie

For a brother

Regis Meyer Rosario Lyman Winfield Dorsey Granville Abe

Explore around Fleming

Top names of 1917, Fleming's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1883 Boys' names starting with F