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Primrose

#2,561 in 2025Girls' name

Wood, tree + moor, heath

Primrose has been given to 1,033 babies in the U.S. since 1914. In 2025 it ranked #2,561 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2021, with 93 recorded.

Babies named Primrose, 2025

1 in 48,000

Primrose over time, 1880–2025

Girls
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Primrose: meaning, origin, and history

Wood, tree + moor, heath

English

What Primrose means

Primrose means “wood, tree + moor, heath”, associated with prenn and rros.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

The surname derives from a place name in Fife, Scotland; Watson (1926) derived this from Pictish/Proto-Brythonic *prenn (“wood, tree”) + *rros (“moor, heath”). Taylor instead argued for Scottish Gaelic prím (“first”) + ros (“promontory”). Changed by folk etymology because of phonetic resemblance to primrose. The given name is one of the 19th-century flower names.

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Primrose is used in English. Its origins include English.

Primrose comes through Proto-Brythonic *prenn and Scottish Gaelic prím.

The given-name sense places Primrose among flower names.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,033 girls were recorded with the name Primrose between 1914 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 93 in 2021; its best national rank was #2,068 in 2021.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,147 in 2020 to #2,561 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #3,245 in 2015 to #2,561 in 2025.

How common is Primrose?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 48,000
69 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 23,300
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,561
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
33,304 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Primrose sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

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 5001%

Put another way: gather 33,304 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Primrose. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Primroses were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Primrose was born before 2020 — so the typical Primrose is around 5 today.

Median birth year
2020
About 5 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
50.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
91.4%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
960
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 50.0% of all recorded uses (517).

Is Primrose 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
−446
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−414
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+684
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.35×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
74.2%
Peak was 2021 (93)
Years since peak
4
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
19.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,068
2021

Where Primrose is used

Across 2016–2025, Primrose was most concentrated in Missouri — about 1 in 16,667 girls, against 1 in 32,975 across all states with data. It was least common in Ohio (1 in 100,000).

16 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Missouri1 in 16,667
  2. 2Arizona1 in 20,000
  3. 3California1 in 20,000
  4. 4Wisconsin1 in 20,000
  5. 5Florida1 in 25,000
  6. 6North Carolina1 in 33,333
  7. 7Pennsylvania1 in 33,333
  8. 8Virginia1 in 33,333

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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.

Primrose around the world

Where Primrose 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
    #196
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2015–2025
    #780
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2019–2024
    #407
    in 2024
  • Ireland
    2022–2022
    #905
    in 2022
  • France
    2020–2020
    #6,383
    in 2020
  • Canada
    2013–2024
    #2,710
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1945–2013
    #536
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Primrose by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,561
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 414
Best rank ever
#2,068
2021
Peak year
2021
93 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,033
Count in 2025
69

Names similar to Primrose

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

PriyankaPricilaPrincesaEmmaroseEllarosePricillaAnnarosePriscilaPrisillaLilyrosePriscellaMaryroseBellaroseMelrosePriscaPrisilaPrismaPrincellaPrishaAvarosePrincessMilaroseMariajoseMiarose

Sibling names for Primrose

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 Primrose

Top names of 2021, Primrose's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2021Girls' names starting with PFlower NamesSpring Names