Forest

What Forest means

Form of Forrest, meaning “forest”

form of Forrest || Also adopted and translated from the word for "forest" in various other languages by settlers.

Source: Wiktionary, “Forest” (revision 93666612) and “Forrest” (revision 94539360), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Forest?

US: Rising: up from #1307 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #2020 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1893, when 59 boys got the name (#222 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 4,965 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 7,350 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in ME (1.56 per 1,000 boys), NH (1.33 per 1,000 boys), OR (0.93 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Forest is #750 in the US and #856 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 96.6% of US babies named Forest were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Forrest850 US · 82 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Forest

Boys

• Wesley#52“west + wood, clearing”^*
• Arthur#87possibly “bear”^*
• Warren#240“river, water”^*
• Stetson#136“site in the Parish of South Brent”^*
• Malcolm#272Variant of Calum, meaning “dove”^*
• Walter#251“ruler + army, host”^*

For a sister

• Blair#169“field, plain”^*
• Stevie#203Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #978 in 2015, #203 in 2025
• Scottie#126Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #3,533 in 2015, #126 in 2025
• Blake#295“black”^*
• Rosemary#251“dew of the sea”^*
• Wrenley#158Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #158 vs #1,454 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under where there are enough, topped up with common names whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Forest’s. Place names are only included if they are in the top 300. Rank is US 2025.