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Ford

#474 in 2025Boys' name

Ford

Ford has been given to 11,026 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #474 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2021, with 707 recorded.

Babies named Ford, 2025

1 in 5,160

Ford over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ford: meaning, origin, and history

Ford

surname transfer

What Ford means

Ford means “ford”.

Origin, language, and formation

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

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

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Ford is pronounced /fɔɹd/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 11,009 boys were recorded with the name Ford between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 707 in 2021; its best national rank was #439 in 2021.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #459 in 2020 to #474 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #741 in 2015 to #474 in 2025.

In the United States, 17 girls were recorded with the name Ford between 2015 and 2019. Its highest annual count was 6 in 2018; its best national rank was #14,371 in 2019.

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 Ford?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 5,160
642 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 2,660
0.04% of boys
Rank, 2025
#474
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
3,580 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Ford 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 1002%
School of 5009%

Put another way: gather 3,580 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ford. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Fords were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ford was born before 2015 — so the typical Ford is around 10 today.

Median birth year
2015
About 10 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
33.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
64.1%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
8,448
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 33.8% of all recorded uses (3,716).

Is Ford 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
+96
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−15
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+267
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.96×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
90.8%
Peak was 2021 (707)
Years since peak
4
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
19.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#439
2021

Spellings of Ford

Ford is not the most common spelling — Fred is, with 30.7% against Ford's 0.98%.

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 Ford is used

Across 2016–2025, Ford was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 1,124 boys, against 1 in 2,953 across all states with data. It was least common in Nevada (1 in 8,333).

1289 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Utah1 in 1,124
  2. 2Idaho1 in 1,538
  3. 3Colorado1 in 1,852
  4. 4Michigan1 in 2,000
  5. 5Arizona1 in 2,128
  6. 6Tennessee1 in 2,128
  7. 7Oregon1 in 2,273
  8. 8Nebraska1 in 2,439

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.

Geographically, Ford is used remarkably evenly across the country — more concentrated than 20% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Ford around the world

Where Ford 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
    #1,705
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2004–2025
    #647
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1993–2024
    #1,105
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1951–2011
    #784
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS 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 Ford

People whose public names include Ford, 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.

Ford by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#474
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 15
Best rank ever
#439
2021
Peak year
2021
707 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
11,009
Count in 2025
642

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#14,371
2019
Peak year
2018
6 that year
First recorded
2015
Last recorded
2019
All-time count
17
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Ford

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

ForestBufordCordWilfordSanfordForrestLordRayfordKordStanfordAlfordFortinoRexfordMilfordCrawfordForbesBradfordGaylordStaffordWinfordRadfordLenordFortuneAshford

Names with a curve like Ford

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

MillerOakleyWatsonMilanHezekiahCreedJonesValentinoBowenLeonidasRemyApollo

Sibling names for Ford

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 Ford

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