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Napoleon

#4,650 in 2025Boys' name

Possibly Naples + lion

Napoleon has been given to 7,810 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #4,650 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1926, with 122 recorded.

Babies named Napoleon, 2025

1 in 151,000

Napoleon over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Napoleon: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly Naples + lion

Italian

What Napoleon means

Napoleon may mean “Naples + lion”, associated with Napoli and leone.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From French Napoléon, from Italian Napoleone, name of an early saint, of uncertain origin; possibly from the Germanic clan name Nibelung. By folk etymology explained as Napoli (“Naples”) + leone (“lion”).

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Napoleon is used in English, Cebuano, Czech, Faroese and Polish. Its origins include Italian.

Napoleon comes through French Napoléon and Italian Napoleone.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Napoleon is pronounced /nəˈpəʊ.li.ən/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 7,805 boys were recorded with the name Napoleon between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 122 in 1926; its best national rank was #297 in 1887.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #6,903 in 2020 to #4,650 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #5,207 in 2015 to #4,650 in 2025.

In the United States, 5 girls were recorded with the name Napoleon between 1927 and 1927. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1927; its best national rank was #5,378 in 1927.

How common is Napoleon?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 151,000
22 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 77,600
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#4,650
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
104,451 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Napoleon 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 104,451 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Napoleon. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Napoleons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Napoleon was born before 1948 — so the typical Napoleon is around 77 today.

Median birth year
1948
About 77 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
13.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
7.1%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
3,738
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 13.3% of all recorded uses (1,036).

Is Napoleon 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
+2,472
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+2,253
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+557
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.22×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
18.0%
Peak was 1926 (122)
Years since peak
99
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
30.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#297
1887

Where Napoleon is used

Across 1910–2025, Napoleon was most concentrated in Alabama — about 1 in 6,250 boys, against 1 in 35,451 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in —).

016 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Alabama1 in 6,250
  2. 2Mississippi1 in 6,667
  3. 3Arkansas1 in 10,000
  4. 4Georgia1 in 11,111
  5. 5North Carolina1 in 14,286
  6. 6South Carolina1 in 20,000
  7. 7Louisiana1 in 25,000
  8. 8Tennessee1 in 25,000

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

Napoleon around the world

Where Napoleon 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.

  • France
    1900–2022
    #6,460
    in 2022
  • Canada
    2004–2021
    #2,989
    in 2021
  • South Australia
    1978–2011
    #784
    in 2011

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Napoleon

People whose public names include Napoleon, 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.

Napoleon in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Napoleon. Linked forms have their own page here.

Napoleone

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Napoleon by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#4,650
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 2,253
Best rank ever
#297
1887
Peak year
1926
122 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
7,805
Count in 2025
22

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,378
1927
Peak year
1927
5 that year
First recorded
1927
Last recorded
1927
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Napoleon

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

JayceonSpurgeonSimeonDameonNaphtaliJayveonTreveonGideonDaveonTrayveonJaiceonJaveonNapoleanKeonCleonTayveonJaceonBreonJamareonDeleonDayveonZayveonDeonKayceon

Names with a curve like Napoleon

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

LemuelLafayetteRubinStanfordDeeFritzGilesLacyHiltonAllisonBerryHaywood

Sibling names for Napoleon

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 Napoleon

Top names of 1926, Napoleon's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1887More old man namesBoys' names starting with N