Wash

Boys' name

Diminutive of Washington

Wash has been given to 1,196 babies in the U.S. since 1880. 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 1921, with 31 recorded.

Babies named Wash, 1972

1 in 629,000

Wash over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Wash: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Washington

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Wash means

Wash is a diminutive of Washington.

Origin, language, and formation

Wash is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Washington.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,196 boys were recorded with the name Wash between 1880 and 1972. Its highest annual count was 31 in 1921; its best national rank was #354 in 1882.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Wash?

Wash had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1972, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1972: 1 in 629,000; 5 of 3,142,796 births
Among boys only: 1 in 324,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1972: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 435,685 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Wash 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 1972 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 435,685 children born in 1972 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Wash. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Washs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Wash was born before 1920 — so the typical Wash is around 105 today.

Median birth year: 1920; About 105 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 18.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 11.6%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 105; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 18.0% of all recorded uses (215).

Is Wash 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 1921 (31)
Years since peak: 104; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 41.7% average annual change
Best rank ever: #354; 1882

Spellings of Wash

Wash is not the most common spelling — Wade is, with 26.8% against Wash's 0.42%.

Wade26.8%76,498
Cash9.7%27,705
Jase8.4%23,905
Nash7.9%22,439
Asa7.4%21,166
Kash6.1%17,367
Josh6.1%17,288
Ward5.3%15,026

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 Wash is used

Across 1910–2025, Wash was most concentrated in Alabama — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 83,811 across all states with data. It was least common in Louisiana (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Alabama1 in 50,000
2Mississippi1 in 50,000
3South Carolina1 in 100,000
4Louisiana1 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. Wash has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Wash by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #354; 1882
Peak year: 1921; 31 that year
First recorded: 1880
Last recorded: 1972
All-time count: 1,196
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Wash

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

Waseem Yash Arash Vash Dash Akash Ash Wasif Aakash Wassim Joash Jash Bash Avinash Wasim Kash Nash Cash Crash Wasil Kailash Wasyl Lash Aryash

Sibling names for Wash

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Elvera Rubie Tressie Lavinia Myrtis Margarette Adell Idella

For a brother

Hardy Antone Harmon Arlie Burl Dewitt Patsy Milford

Explore around Wash

Top names of 1921, Wash's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1882 Boys' names starting with W