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Payne

#8,740 in 2025Boys' name

(sky) blue

Payne has been given to 1,316 babies in the U.S. since 1900. In 2025 it ranked #8,740 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2000, with 121 recorded.

Babies named Payne, 2025

1 in 368,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Payne: meaning, origin, and history

(sky) blue

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Payne means

Payne means “(sky) blue”.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,300 boys were recorded with the name Payne between 1900 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 121 in 2000; its best national rank was #1,147 in 2000.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,630 in 2020 to #8,740 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,453 in 2015 to #8,740 in 2025.

In the United States, 16 girls were recorded with the name Payne between 1994 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 6 in 2002; its best national rank was #14,935 in 2002.

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 Payne?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 368,000
9 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 190,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#8,740
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
255,323 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Payne 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 255,323 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Payne. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Paynes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Payne was born before 2001 — so the typical Payne is around 24 today.

Median birth year
2001
About 24 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
42.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
54.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,249
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 42.4% of all recorded uses (551).

Is Payne 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
+904
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−3,110
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−3,287
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.53×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
7.4%
Peak was 2000 (121)
Years since peak
25
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
26.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,147
2000

Spellings of Payne

Payne is not the most common spelling — Wayne is, with 46.8% against Payne's 0.17%.

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 Payne is used

Across 1910–2025, Payne was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 372,992 across all states with data. It was least common in Tennessee (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Texas1 in 100,000
  2. 2California1 in —
  3. 3Florida1 in —
  4. 4Georgia1 in —
  5. 5Iowa1 in —
  6. 6Indiana1 in —
  7. 7Louisiana1 in —
  8. 8Michigan1 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. Payne has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Payne around the world

Where Payne 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.

  • Canada
    2000–2000
    #1,770
    in 2000
  • South Australia
    1995–1995
    #533
    in 1995

Popularity data from Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Payne by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#8,740
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 3,110
Best rank ever
#1,147
2000
Peak year
2000
121 that year
First recorded
1900
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,300
Count in 2025
9

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#16,669
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#14,935
2002
Peak year
2002
6 that year
First recorded
1994
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
16
Count in 2025
5

Names similar to Payne

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

PaydenPaysonRayneKayneBayneThayneShyneCayneDaynePaytenXayneBlaynePayamRyneZayneDoyneLawayneCheyneLaynePaytonShayneDawaynePaydonPaysen

Sibling names for Payne

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 Payne

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