Wells

What Wells means

Means “spring”

From Old English wella, genitive plural of well (“spring”), in reference to a residence near a group of springs.

Source: Wiktionary, “Wells” (revision 92400905), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Wells?

US: Rising: up from #1729 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2025, when 944 boys got the name (#345 that year). First in the US records in 1881.

How common

• About 1 in 1,809 baby boys in the US 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 ND (3.58 per 1,000 boys), NH (2.66 per 1,000 boys), UT (2.59 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Wells is #345 in the US. It is not in the England & Wales list for 2025.

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

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 98.5% of US babies named Wells were boys.

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

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Wills5 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.

Spelling variants on Wiktionary

• Wels

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

If you like Wells

Boys

• Ellis#243“benevolent, kind”^*
• Murphy#754“descendant of Murrough”^*
• Ridge#529From the word “ridge”^*
• Hayes#162“brushwood”^*
• Baker#217From a surname for “a baker, or owner of a communal oven”^*
• Rhett#188“advice”^*

For a sister

• Sutton#181“south + town”^*
• Blakely#191Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #191 vs #1,407 in 2025
• Carter#454“son of Arthur”^*
• Merritt#703Editor’s note Used for both: 77% of US babies named Merritt in 2025 were girls
• Murphy#397“descendant of Murrough”^*
• Blake#295“black”^*

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 Wells’s. Rank is US 2025.