Thorn
#8,185 in 2025Boys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Thorn has been given to 313 babies in the U.S. since 1958. In 2025 it ranked #8,185 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1988, with 16 recorded.
Babies named Thorn, 2025
1 in 332,000
Thorn 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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
How common is Thorn?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 332,000
- 10 of 3,315,165 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 171,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2025
- #8,185
- of 13,926 boys’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 229,791 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Thorn sits on the popularity scale
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.
Put another way: gather 229,791 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Thorn. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Thorns were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Thorn was born before 2003 — so the typical Thorn is around 22 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1990s
- 31.3% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 51.4%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 313
- People you could plausibly meet
1990s — 31.3% of all recorded uses (98).
Is Thorn 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
- +5,852
- Places climbed
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- +1,283
- Places climbed
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- +2,328
- Places climbed
- Births vs 10 years ago
- 1.43×
- More babies than then
- Share of its own peak
- 62.5%
- Peak was 1988 (16)
- Years since peak
- 37
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 30.1% average annual change
Spellings of Thorn
Thorn is not the most common spelling — Theron is, with 23.7% against Thorn's 0.57%.
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.
Thorn around the world
Where Thorn 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 & Wales2016–2022#4,790in 2022
- Canada2014–2014#2,672in 2014
- South Australia2004–2007#680in 2007
Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.
Thorn by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
Names similar to Thorn
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Thorn
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.