Fern

Fern: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“fern plant”
Origin
English
Say it
FERN · 1 syllable
Used for
Girls

From the English word for the plant. It has been used as a given name since the late 19th century as part of the nature-name tradition.

How popular is Fern?

202460.0 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Fern in 2024200

2024 rank#1,258 girls

Peak year1903

Total US babies since 188038,006

Fern is rising: use over the last five years is 3.8× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Fern

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Oliviaolive tree · English
  • Evelyndesired; little bird · English
  • Harperharp player · English
  • Violetviolet flower · English
  • Hazelhazel tree · English
  • Ellieshort form of names ending in -el or -ella · English
  • Lilylily flower · English
  • Scarlettscarlet, bright red · English

Fern questions

What does the name Fern mean?

Fern means "fern plant". It comes from English. From the English word for the plant. It has been used as a given name since the late 19th century as part of the nature-name tradition.

Is Fern a boy or girl name?

Fern is mainly a girl's name in US records (99% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Fern?

200 US babies were named Fern in 2024. Its peak year was 1903.

How do you pronounce Fern?

Fern is usually pronounced FERN.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.