London

About London

London carries the name of the English capital directly into use as a given name. It is also a familiar surname, particularly through writer Jack London, and a fictional first name through London Tipton. These connections give it several layers of recognition beyond the city itself.

Meaning and origin

The given name comes from London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The deeper meaning of the ancient place name is uncertain. It is therefore more accurate to understand the modern name as referring to the city than to assign it a confident literal translation.

London is pronounced LUN-den in English, with two syllables and stress on the first. Londyn is a modern spelling variant. The city’s usual spelling also leaves the name immediately recognizable in print, whether it appears as a first name, surname, or place name.

Jack London and animal stories

Jack London, who lived from 1876 to 1916, supplies the name’s strongest literary surname connection. Two of his best-known books, The Call of the Wild and White Fang, examine life across the boundary between domestication and the wild.

Their central movements run in opposite directions. The Call of the Wild follows a domestic dog toward a wild existence, while White Fang follows a wild animal toward life with people. That reversal gives the pair a close relationship without making them versions of the same story.

London in fiction

Siobhan Dowd’s The London Eye Mystery uses the city as the setting for a disappearance. Ted and Kat watch their cousin Salim board the London Eye, but he does not emerge when the ride finishes. The siblings have to work together, following clues across London. Ted’s distinctive way of thinking becomes essential to their search.

London Tipton offers a different kind of connection: the place name used directly for a character. Played by Brenda Song in Disney’s The Suite Life on Deck, London shares a room with Bailey, a girl from Kansas. The contrast between their backgrounds is part of the show’s shipboard situation.

Popularity in the United States

London has been recorded for both girls and boys, with much greater recent use for girls. Its female peak was 3,462 births in 2013, when it ranked No. 85. In 2025, it stood at No. 431 with 719 girls.

For boys, the highest count was 520 in 2009; its best rank, No. 504, followed in 2010. There were 144 boys named London in 2025, placing it at No. 1,335. The two series show that the same spelling has had distinct patterns of use.

How popular is London?

In 2025, London ranked #431 among girls in the United States, with 719 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1963; its largest annual count was 3,462 in 2013. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.