BabyNamesMap

Baby names › Boys

Wade

Means “a ford”*

CommonRare
Rank 2015: #519, 2016: #406, 2017: #367, 2018: #361, 2019: #335, 2020: #340, 2021: #326, 2022: #344, 2023: #341, 2024: #341, 2025: #3441 in 1,802 boys in the US, 2025#344 · rising · was #519 in 2015
CommonRare
Rank 2015: #1,442, 2016: #758, 2017: #709, 2018: #763, 2019: #707, 2020: #781, 2021: #1,055, 2022: #1,143, 2023: #1,139, 2024: #1,282, 2025: #1,2761 in 12,361 boys in E&W, 2025#1,276 · rising · was #1,442 in 2015

Boy’s name · from a surname · /weɪd/

Try with your surname

What Wade means

Means “a ford”

From Old English wæd (“a ford”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Wade” (revision 92400706), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Wade?

US 2025
#344
948 babies
▼ 3 vs 2024
England & Wales 2025
#1276
22 babies
▲ 6 vs 2024
Scotland
–
Not listed

US: Rising: up from #519 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #1442 in 2015.

00.5118801920196020002025
US, 1880–2025England & Wales, 1996–2025Babies per 1,000 boys born. Dot: biggest US share (1970)

Biggest US share so far: 1970, when 1,423 boys got the name (#189 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

  • About 1 in 1,802 baby boys in the US in 2025
  • About 1 in 12,361 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 AK (3.96 per 1,000 boys), MT (3.19 per 1,000 boys), ID (2.55 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

AK
ME
WI
VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
HI
TX
FL
FewerMore · grey: under 5 babies, not listed

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

US vs UK

Wade is #344 in the US and #1276 in England & Wales (2025).

Rank 2025BabiesHow commonRank 2015
US#3449481 in 1,802#519
England & Wales#1276221 in 12,361#1442
Scotland––––

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

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Wade were boys.

GirlsBoys
US 20250948
England & Wales 2025022
US all years since 188016876,498
England & Wales since 19963924

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

How to say it

/weɪd/

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

  • Wayde48 US

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 Wade

Boys

  • Wallace#960“foreign”
  • Wesley#52“west + wood, clearing”
  • Sterling#345Variant of Stirling, possibly meaning “stream + pool, lake”
  • Franklin#359“freeholder”
  • Bellamy#721“fair + friend”
  • Ridge#529From the word “ridge”

For a sister

  • Murphy#397“descendant of Murrough”
  • Darcy#857“to burn, consume”
  • Blake#295“black”
  • Fallon#778“descendant of Fallamhan”
  • Kori#978Form of Corey, possibly meaning “troop, host, company”
  • Merritt#703Editor’s note Used for both: 77% of US babies named Merritt in 2025 were girls

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under From a surname, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Wade’s. Rank is US 2025.

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