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Waldo

#11,902 in 2025Boys' name

Power + thief

Waldo has been given to 5,722 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #11,902 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1915, with 174 recorded.

Babies named Waldo, 2025

1 in 553,000

Waldo over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Waldo: meaning, origin, and history

Power + thief

Old English and English

What Waldo means

Waldo means “power + thief”, associated with weald and þēof.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

English surname, from the obsolete English given name Waltheof, from Old English weald (“power”) + þēof (“thief”), as in "one who snatched victory from battle." Comparable to, or ultimately Anglicized from, the Old Norse equivalent Valthiófr, from vald + *ᚦᛖᚢᛒᚨᛉ (*þeubaʀ).

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Waldo is used in English and Tagalog. Its origins include Old English and English.

Waldo comes through Old English weald.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Tagalog, Waldo is pronounced /ˈwaldo/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5,716 boys were recorded with the name Waldo between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 174 in 1915; its best national rank was #347 in 1881.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #11,929 in 2020 to #11,902 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #9,504 in 2015 to #11,902 in 2025.

In the United States, 6 girls were recorded with the name Waldo between 1921 and 1921. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1921; its best national rank was #5,078 in 1921.

How common is Waldo?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 553,000
6 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 285,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#11,902
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Waldo 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 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Waldo. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Waldos were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Waldo was born before 1927 — so the typical Waldo is around 98 today.

Median birth year
1927
About 98 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
23.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
3.3%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
1,334
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 23.7% of all recorded uses (1,355).

Is Waldo 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
+27
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−2,398
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.75×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
3.4%
Peak was 1915 (174)
Years since peak
110
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
23.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#347
1881

Spellings of Waldo

Waldo is not the most common spelling — Wade is, with 45.8% against Waldo's 3.4%.

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 Waldo is used

Across 1910–2025, Waldo was most concentrated in Iowa — about 1 in 20,000 boys, against 1 in 75,934 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

05 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Iowa1 in 20,000
  2. 2Minnesota1 in 20,000
  3. 3West Virginia1 in 25,000
  4. 4Kansas1 in 33,333
  5. 5Missouri1 in 33,333
  6. 6Ohio1 in 33,333
  7. 7Oklahoma1 in 33,333
  8. 8Georgia1 in 50,000

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

Waldo around the world

Where Waldo 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
    2003–2003
    #4,826
    in 2003
  • South Australia
    1953–1955
    #392
    in 1955

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

Notable people named Waldo

People whose public names include Waldo, 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.

Waldo by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#11,902
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 27
Best rank ever
#347
1881
Peak year
1915
174 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
5,716
Count in 2025
6

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,078
1921
Peak year
1921
6 that year
First recorded
1921
Last recorded
1921
All-time count
6
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Waldo

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

WallyWaltonWaltWalidWaleedWaldenWaliOswaldoRonaldoWalkerArnoldoUbaldoAldoOsbaldoRenaldoLeopoldoWaldemarGeraldoOsvaldoArnaldoReinaldoWaldonWallaceWallis

Names with a curve like Waldo

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

JuniusAloysiusRupertAlbinJewelJewellEllsworthBusterGranvilleOrvalElzieElwin

Sibling names for Waldo

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 Waldo

Top names of 1915, Waldo's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1881Boys' names starting with W