Winter
Winter was the 426th most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 732 babies. Its best year was 2022, when it ranked 305th with 1,053 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved up 121 places. More babies were named Winter in the 2020s than in any other decade.
Meaning winter (the season) · English, Germanic
Say it WIN-ter /ˈwɪntər/
- Rank in 2025
- #426 girls, down 111 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 732girls
- Girls and boys
- 93% girls, 7% boys2021–2025
- Peak year
- 20221,053 babies
- Total since 1880
- 16,656babies recorded
What does the name Winter mean?
Winter is the name of the season, used as a word name for girls in the US. As a surname and medieval first name its history is mixed: Bardsley and Harrison treat it as a season name used for people, perhaps for someone born in winter, while DMNES lists a separate German name Winither, from Winida, "Wend", and heri, "army", which later took the form Winter. The modern given name is the English word.
winter (Old English, “winter”)
How sure is this? Probable. The modern word name is clear; older surname origins vary.
Related names: Wynter, Summer.
See also: English names.
Sources for this meaning
- Wiktionary, entry 'Winter', Wiktionary (Wikimedia Foundation)
- Charles W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with Special American Instances (1901), s.v. 'Winter', Henry Frowde (public domain; Internet Archive scan)
- Henry Harrison, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary, vol. 2 (1918), s.v. 'WINTER', Morland Press (public domain; Internet Archive scan)
- Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources (ed. S. L. Uckelman), Edition 2023 no. 1, s.v. 'Winter', DMNES, Durham University
- Dictionary.com Unabridged (based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary), with Collins English Dictionary, s.v. 'winter', Dictionary.com / Random House / HarperCollins
- CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (cmudict), Carnegie Mellon University
Winter popularity since 1880
| Year | Rank (girls) | Rank (boys) | Babies (girls) | Babies (boys) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #426 | #1,990 | 732 | 77 |
| 2020 | #315 | #2,545 | 1,009 | 51 |
| 2010 | #1,121 | #7,064 | 220 | 12 |
| 2000 | #1,167 | #5,035 | 173 | 15 |
| 1990 | #1,877 | — | 76 | — |
| 1980 | #1,029 | #5,512 | 140 | 7 |
| 1970 | #7,976 | — | 6 | — |
| 1960 | — | — | — | — |
| 1950 | — | — | — | — |
| 1940 | — | — | — | — |
| 1930 | — | — | — | — |
| 1920 | — | — | — | — |
| 1910 | — | — | — | — |
| 1900 | — | — | — | — |
| 1890 | — | — | — | — |
| 1880 | — | — | — | — |
How popular is Winter, counting every spelling?
Winter is the most common spelling of a name family that ranked #240 for girls in 2025 once every spelling is counted together, compared with #426 for Winter on its own. Together these spellings went to 1,423 girls in 2025.
| Spelling | Babies 2025 | Official rank | Babies 2021–2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter | 732 | #426 | 4,448 |
| Wynter | 676 | #457 | 4,057 |
| Wynnter | 10 | #10,069 | 59 |
Spellings count together when they sound the same in American English and are used for the same sex; nicknames and forms that sound different (such as Theo and Theodore) are kept apart. How we group spellings.
How many kids will share the name Winter?
732 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Winter (0.20 per 1,000 births). For a girl named Winter born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is under 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 11 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Winter.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Winter?
About 15,500 people born in the US named Winter are alive today, with a median age of 9; half are between 5 and 20. That makes Winter a young name: most people with it are children.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Winter by state
How common Winter was among girls born in each state in 2021–2025. It is notably more common than nationally in Alaska (5.1×), Maine (2.4×), Nevada (2.2×), West Virginia (1.9×), New Mexico (1.8×). It is least common, relative to the national rate, in Montana, Nebraska, Texas.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Winter: their share of US girls followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Winter, they share its era and feel.
Middle names for Winter · Sibling names for Winter
Questions about the name Winter
What does Winter mean?
Winter means “winter (the season)” (English, Germanic origin). Certainty: probable.
How popular is the name Winter?
Winter was the 426th most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 732 babies. Its best year was 2022, when it ranked 305th with 1,053 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved up 121 places. More babies were named Winter in the 2020s than in any other decade.
Is Winter a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, 93% girls, 7% boys given the name Winter in the US.
Where is Winter most popular?
In 2021–2025, Winter was most common in Alaska (2.79 per 1,000 girls), followed by Maine and Nevada.