Sway
UnisexGirls' nameBoys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Sway has been given to 339 babies in the U.S. since 2001. 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 2005, with 15 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 67% girls, 33% boys all-time.
Babies named Sway, 2023
1 in 331,000
Sway over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
Girls or boys — Sway over time
In 2025, Sway went to 0% girls and 100% boys.
A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.
How common is Sway?
Sway 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 331,000
- 10 of 3,314,783 births
- Among girls only
- 1 in 160,000
- <0.01% of girls
- Rank, 2023
- Unranked
- Fewer than 5 uses
- Coin-flip room size
- 229,764 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Sway sits on the popularity scale
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.
Put another way: gather 229,764 children born in 2023 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Sway. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Sways were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Sway was born before 2010 — so the typical Sway is around 15 today.
- Biggest decade
- 2000s
- 46.0% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 100.0%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 226
- People you could plausibly meet
2000s — 46.0% of all recorded uses (104).
Is Sway 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 2005 (15)
- Years since peak
- 20
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 25.5% average annual change
Spellings of Sway
Sway is not the most common spelling — Stacy is, with 37.4% against Sway's 0.05%.
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.
Sway around the world
Where Sway 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 & Wales2005–2009#5,556in 2009
- France2004–2023#4,877in 2023
- South Australia2008–2012#871in 2012
Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.
Sway by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a girl's name
Names similar to Sway
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Sway
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.