Name Awesome

Milford

Boys' name

Ford by a mill

Milford has been given to 8,211 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 1921, with 234 recorded.

Babies named Milford, 2023

1 in 552,000

Milford over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Milford: meaning, origin, and history

Ford by a mill

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Milford means

Milford means “ford by a mill”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Milford is used in English.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈmɪl.fəɹd/ and /ˈmɪl.fəd/ for Milford.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 8,198 boys were recorded with the name Milford between 1880 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 234 in 1921; its best national rank was #370 in 1913.

In the United States, 13 girls were recorded with the name Milford between 1923 and 1935. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1923; its best national rank was #4,081 in 1935.

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.

How common is Milford?

Milford had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2023, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2023
1 in 552,000
6 of 3,314,783 births
Among boys only
1 in 285,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2023
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
382,940 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Milford 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 2023 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 382,940 children born in 2023 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Milford. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Milfords were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Milford was born before 1929 — so the typical Milford is around 96 today.

Median birth year
1929
About 96 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
26.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
0.15%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
1,484
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 26.5% of all recorded uses (2,172).

Is Milford 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 1921 (234)
Years since peak
104
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
39.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#370
1913

Spellings of Milford

Milford is not the most common spelling — Millard is, with 31.5% against Milford's 15.4%.

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 Milford is used

Across 1910–2025, Milford was most concentrated in Alabama — about 1 in 7,692 boys, against 1 in 31,784 across all states with data. It was least common in Florida (1 in —).

013 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Alabama1 in 7,692
  2. 2Kentucky1 in 10,000
  3. 3Missouri1 in 11,111
  4. 4Maine1 in 12,500
  5. 5Nebraska1 in 12,500
  6. 6West Virginia1 in 12,500
  7. 7Iowa1 in 14,286
  8. 8Kansas1 in 16,667

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

Notable people named Milford

People whose public names include Milford, 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.

Milford 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
#370
1913
Peak year
1921
234 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2023
All-time count
8,198
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,081
1935
Peak year
1923
7 that year
First recorded
1923
Last recorded
1935
All-time count
13
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Milford

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

MillardMillerWilfordRayfordSanfordStanfordBufordMilanRexfordMilburnCrawfordGaylordMildredMillionStaffordWinfordMilianoRadfordBradfordMiltonMillsAlfordFordMilo

Names with a curve like Milford

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

OdisCletusLymanWilburnBufordArlieOlenClairBurlBertramHobertCleo

Sibling names for Milford

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 Milford

Top names of 1921, Milford's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1913Boys' names starting with M