Palmer: name meaning, origin & popularity
- Meaning
- “pilgrim to the Holy Land”
- Origin
- English
- Say it
- PAHL-mer · 2 syllables
- Used for
- Both (47% girls, 53% boys since 1880)
From an English surname for a pilgrim who carried a palm branch as a sign of pilgrimage. It later came into use as a given name.
How popular is Palmer?
Babies named Palmer in 20241,423
2024 rank#258 girls
Peak year2024
Total US babies since 188017,090
Palmer is rising: use over the last five years is 6.7× what it was a decade earlier.
Names like Palmer
Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.
Palmer questions
What does the name Palmer mean?
Palmer means "pilgrim to the Holy Land". It comes from English. From an English surname for a pilgrim who carried a palm branch as a sign of pilgrimage. It later came into use as a given name.
Is Palmer a boy or girl name?
Palmer is used for both: about 47% of US babies named Palmer since 1880 were girls.
How popular is Palmer?
1,423 US babies were named Palmer in 2024. Its peak year was 2024.
How do you pronounce Palmer?
Palmer is usually pronounced PAHL-mer.
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.