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Popularity of the name Luke, 1880–2025

Luke was at its most popular in 2014, when 10,523 boys were given the name: about 1 in 180 boys born in the U.S. that year, ranking #28. In 2025, 6,948 boys were named Luke, ranking #33. In all, Social Security counts 323,020 boys named Luke since 1880. Social Security’s records also list 565 girls named Luke.

Peak year
2014
Rank in 2014
#28
Babies in 2014
10,523
Rank in 2025
#33
Total since 1880
323,020
Babies named Luke per 1,000 boys born, 1880–2025How many of every 1,000 boys born each year were named Luke. The table below lists every year.01.534.5618801900192019401960198020002020
Babies given the name per 1,000 boys born each year. A gap is a year with fewer than 5.

Where it stands now

In the past decade the name slipped from #28 in 2015 to #33 in 2025: 10,294 boys got it in 2015, and 6,948 in 2025.

Decade by decade

Its best decade was the 2010s, when 93,274 boys were named Luke, #32 for the decade. It ranked #252 in the 1880s and #33 in the 2020s so far.

Every 20 years in the records: 43 in 1880 (#252), 70 in 1900 (#243), 166 in 1920 (#472), 116 in 1940 (#545), 426 in 1960 (#383), 3,109 in 1980 (#97), 7,148 in 2000 (#59) and 7,784 in 2020 (#31).

Highs and lows

The most boys given the name in a single year was 10,523, in 2014. Its best rank, #28, came in its peak year.

Every year

The table lists every year from 1880 to 2025 in which Social Security recorded at least 5 boys named Luke, with the name’s rank that year.

Babies named Luke by year
YearBabiesRank
188043#252
188142#237
188244#258
188338#263
188439#271
188550#233
188650#235
188747#230
188845#262
188944#244
189042#268
189123#359
189242#279
189348#255
189432#308
189553#245
189645#270
189744#263
189838#307
189935#294
190070#243
190137#284
190241#299
190346#273
190440#312
190553#270
190657#261
190745#318
190852#303
190957#302
191071#291
191162#349
191283#428
1913115#402
1914168#365
1915157#432
1916183#411
1917163#443
1918176#447
1919165#459
1920166#472
1921165#476
1922190#440
1923185#449
1924206#424
1925165#467
1926162#472
1927158#481
1928149#495
1929153#474
1930141#503
1931142#474
1932165#438
1933110#543
1934122#530
1935121#525
1936116#529
1937113#547
1938123#522
1939116#533
1940116#545
1941121#535
1942110#598
1943126#565
1944118#559
1945116#554
1946130#562
1947151#548
1948155#532
1949155#533
1950170#514
1951169#525
1952158#556
1953169#544
1954197#516
1955219#500
1956245#486
1957291#452
1958337#429
1959353#424
1960426#383
1961413#393
1962426#392
1963422#386
1964445#374
1965400#392
1966355#398
1967346#409
1968387#396
1969451#367
1970535#351
1971530#347
1972575#319
1973633#285
1974725#265
1975778#256
1976913#223
19771,242#190
19781,882#139
19792,470#110
19803,109#97
19813,013#100
19822,478#119
19832,655#105
19842,471#110
19852,741#106
19862,654#106
19872,592#111
19882,619#119
19892,712#121
19902,883#118
19913,013#113
19924,066#93
19934,357#87
19944,095#91
19954,629#82
19965,017#75
19974,953#78
19985,284#75
19996,137#67
20007,148#59
20018,008#50
20028,692#46
20039,304#46
20049,598#41
200510,011#41
200610,087#43
20079,609#46
20089,424#43
20098,625#47
20108,850#41
20118,706#39
20129,022#37
20139,588#34
201410,523#28
201510,294#28
201610,001#29
20179,224#30
20188,624#30
20198,442#32
20207,784#31
20217,711#32
20227,393#34
20237,251#31
20247,062#34
20256,948#33

How these numbers are counted

Social Security publishes, for every year since 1880, how many babies of each sex were given each name, counting any name given to at least 5. A name’s rank is its place that year among names for the same sex, by number of babies. Names with the same count share a rank here, while Social Security’s own lists break ties alphabetically, so a rank can differ from theirs by a place or two. A name’s share is the number of babies given it divided by all babies of that sex in the data that year, and its peak is the year that share was highest. Shares rather than counts set the peak, because far more babies were born in some years than others: counting babies alone would pull nearly every name’s peak toward the 1946–1964 baby boom.

Source: the U.S. Social Security Administration’s national baby name data, from Social Security card applications for babies born in the U.S. A name is left out of a year when fewer than 5 babies of one sex got it, and counts before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a card. See how Baby Boom builds its data. Figures may contain errors.