girls' name ★ peaked 1920

Louise

Meaning From French Louise, the feminine form of Louis Gender Girl · 1% boys Rank 2025 #516 Trend ↑ Rising 44%

From French Louise, the feminine form of Louis.

Rank 2025
#516
among girls · ↑25 vs 2024
Babies in 2025
579
named Louise · +3% vs 2024
How common
1 in 2,776
girls born in 2025
Peak year
1920
9,226 babies
All-time total
338,662
#113 all-time among girls
First recorded
1880
in Social Security records

Louise popularity over time

338,662 babies have been named Louise since 1880, according to official Social Security records. Switch measure to see births per year or the yearly rank.

Measure
Births per 1,000 babies of that sex, comparable across eras
2.557.51018801900192019401960198020002020GirlsBoys
GirlsBoys

By decade. Change compares yearly averages, so the current partial decade is on equal footing. Best rank is the name's best yearly rank within the decade.

Decade Girls Boys Total Per year Change Best rank
1880s 9,596 51 9,647 965 – #33
1890s 15,174 85 15,259 1,526 +58% #31
1900s 22,862 108 22,970 2,297 +51% #18
1910s 67,973 329 68,302 6,830 +197% #17
1920s 82,895 500 83,395 8,340 +22% #19
1930s 49,859 424 50,283 5,028 -40% #31
1940s 38,665 231 38,896 3,890 -23% #59
1950s 25,852 160 26,012 2,601 -33% #109
1960s 10,894 112 11,006 1,101 -58% #199
1970s 2,918 61 2,979 298 -73% #416
1980s 1,965 99 2,064 206 -31% #689
1990s 1,295 14 1,309 131 -37% #998
2000s 1,035 9 1,044 104 -20% #1,582
2010s 2,489 – 2,489 249 +138% #677
2020s (to 2025) 2,994 13 3,007 501 +101% #516

Where Louise is heading

A five-year projection from the recent trend in births per 1,000 girls (damped so it flattens over time), converted to babies at today's birth totals. The implied rank places that projection in the 2025 field. A projection, not a promise: real trends bend.

Year Projected babies Per 1,000 girls Implied rank
2026 617 0.38 #487
2027 652 0.41 #474
2028 682 0.42 #451
2029 710 0.44 #437
2030 734 0.46 #424

Where Louise is most popular

Girls named Louise per 1,000 girls born in each state, 2021–2025. National average: 0.318 per 1,000. Strongest in District of Columbia, Minnesota, and Maine.

Vs national average
well below below near national above well above no data

All 50 states and DC, sorted by rate. Counts are girls named Louise born 2021–2025; the per-1,000 rate makes states of different sizes comparable, and the last column shows each state against the national average.

State Girls 2021–2025 Per 1,000 vs national
District of Columbia 24 2.02 +537%
Minnesota 110 1.02 +221%
Maine 13 0.840 +165%
Massachusetts 100 0.827 +160%
Oregon 49 0.753 +137%
Colorado 81 0.726 +128%
Kansas 41 0.711 +124%
Missouri 84 0.697 +119%
Washington 88 0.609 +92%
South Carolina 54 0.601 +89%
Wisconsin 60 0.583 +83%
Alabama 53 0.564 +78%
Ohio 129 0.544 +71%
Iowa 29 0.496 +56%
Illinois 111 0.485 +53%
Tennessee 76 0.480 +51%
Virginia 81 0.475 +50%
Michigan 78 0.428 +35%
Louisiana 37 0.423 +33%
Utah 34 0.409 +29%
Georgia 89 0.392 +23%
New York 155 0.391 +23%
North Carolina 84 0.369 +16%
Pennsylvania 83 0.351 +11%
Indiana 49 0.349 +10%
Connecticut 18 0.309 ≈ national
Nebraska 11 0.306 ≈ national
New Jersey 54 0.299 -6%
Kentucky 25 0.292 -8%
California 206 0.245 -23%
Florida 86 0.201 -37%
Maryland 21 0.198 -38%
Texas 125 0.155 -51%
Nevada 6 0.129 -59%
Arizona 12 0.086 -73%
Oklahoma 5 0.068 -79%
Alaska – – –
Arkansas – – –
Delaware – – –
Hawaii – – –
Idaho – – –
Mississippi – – –
Montana – – –
North Dakota – – –
New Hampshire – – –
New Mexico – – –
Rhode Island – – –
South Dakota – – –
Vermont – – –
West Virginia – – –
Wyoming – – –

State counts come from the Social Security Administration's state files, which omit any state-year with fewer than five babies of a name, so small states can undercount slightly.

The story of Louise

Louise is uncommon for girls in the United States, ranked #516 in 2025 with 579 babies given the name. It is currently rising compared with a decade ago.

Since 1880, 338,662 American babies have been named Louise. Its peak came in 1920, when 9,226 newborns received the name, the signature sound of the 1920s.

The chart above shows the full history: the popularity view (births per 1,000 babies) is the honest comparison across generations, since total US births have changed enormously since 1880. Switch to the rank view to see where Louise stood among all girls' names in any year, or use the compare tool to plot it against other names.

How old are people named Louise?

The median living Louise is about 75 years old; half are between 65 and 83. An estimated 84 thousand people named Louise are alive in the United States today.

median 75 020406080100

Estimated from births per year and Social Security period life tables; an approximation of the living age distribution, by age in years.

Louise year by year

Every year since 2001, and five-year steps back to 1880. Rank is within each sex.

Year Girls Girls rank Boys Boys rank
2025 579 #516 – –
2024 562 #541 – –
2023 514 #583 – –
2022 462 #639 8 #9,517
2021 460 #651 5 #13,325
2020 417 #681 – –
2019 428 #677 – –
2018 340 #803 – –
2017 339 #807 – –
2016 313 #896 – –
2015 243 #1,081 – –
2014 201 #1,218 – –
2013 197 #1,225 – –
2012 153 #1,482 – –
2011 125 #1,688 – –
2010 150 #1,496 – –
2009 102 #2,026 – –
2008 108 #1,959 – –
2007 107 #1,932 – –
2006 90 #2,160 – –
2005 92 #2,047 – –
2004 94 #1,981 – –
2003 112 #1,706 – –
2002 110 #1,676 – –
2001 108 #1,678 9 #7,274
2000 112 #1,582 – –
1995 113 #1,438 – –
1990 182 #1,000 – –
1985 194 #840 11 #3,945
1980 234 #717 8 #4,774
1975 229 #667 12 #3,172
1970 541 #416 – –
1965 945 #283 12 #2,425
1960 1,786 #199 7 #3,532
1955 2,431 #148 15 #2,102
1950 3,254 #109 14 #2,078
1945 3,514 #78 22 #1,430
1940 3,928 #59 35 #1,121
1935 4,563 #45 44 #962
1930 6,942 #31 51 #953
1925 8,275 #27 41 #1,102
1920 9,179 #19 47 #1,013
1915 8,313 #18 38 #1,048
1910 3,457 #20 29 #529
1905 2,367 #23 14 #654
1900 2,070 #35 15 #668
1895 1,582 #37 10 #728
1890 1,472 #31 9 #711
1885 956 #39 – –
1880 635 #37 – –

Famous people named Louise

The most globally famous bearers of the name, ranked by fame across Wikipedia editions (Pantheon project, MIT).

  1. 1 Louise Fletcher Louise Fletcher American actress (1934–2022) Contemporary
  2. 2 Louise Brooks Louise Brooks American actress (1906–1985) Contemporary
  3. 3 Louise of Hesse-Kassel Louise of Hesse-Kassel Queen of Denmark from 1863 to 1898 1817–1898 · 19th century
  4. 4 Louise Mountbatten Louise Mountbatten Queen of Sweden from 1950 to 1965 1889–1965 · 19th century
  5. 5 Louise Hay Louise Hay American author (1926–2017) Contemporary
  6. 6 Louise Bourgeois Louise Bourgeois French-American artist (1911–2010) Contemporary
  7. 7 Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Queen of Prussia from 1797 to 1810 1776–1810 · 18th century
  8. 8 Louise of Sweden Louise of Sweden Queen of Denmark from 1906 to 1912 1851–1926 · 19th century
  9. 9 Louise of Orléans Louise of Orléans Queen of the Belgians from 1832 to 1850 1812–1850 · 19th century
  10. 10 Louise de La Vallière Louise de La Vallière Mistress of Louis XIV (1644–1710) 17th century
  11. 11 Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans Queen of Spain in 1724 1709–1742 · 18th century
  12. 12 Louise Michel Louise Michel French anarchist (1830–1905) 19th century
  13. 13 Louise Élisabeth of France Louise Élisabeth of France Duchess of Parma from 1748 to 1759 1727–1759 · 18th century
  14. 14 Louise of Great Britain Louise of Great Britain Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1746 to 1751 1724–1751 · 18th century
  15. 15 Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth French mistress of King Charles II (1649–1734) 17th century
  16. 16 Louise of the Netherlands Louise of the Netherlands Queen of Sweden and Norway from 1859 to 1871 1828–1871 · 19th century
  17. 17 Louise of Savoy Louise of Savoy Mother of Francis I, Regent of France (1476–1531) Medieval
  18. 18 Louise de Marillac Louise de Marillac French Roman Catholic saint 1591–1660 · 16th century
  19. 19 Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans Mother of Louis Philippe I, King of the French 1753–1821 · 18th century
  20. 20 Louise Hippolyte, Princess of Monaco Louise Hippolyte, Princess of Monaco Princess of Monaco in 1731 1697–1731 · 17th century

Portraits from Wikipedia (Wikimedia Commons).

Frequently asked questions

Quick answers about Louise, drawn from the same Social Security data as the charts above.

How old is the average Louise?

The median living Louise is about 75 years old. Half of all living Louises are between 65 and 83 years old.

How many people named Louise are alive today?

An estimated 84 thousand people named Louise are alive in the United States, based on 338,662 recorded births and Social Security life tables.

What does the name Louise mean?

From French Louise, the feminine form of Louis.

How popular is the name Louise in 2025?

Louise ranked #516 among girls' names in the United States in 2025, with 579 babies given the name, according to Social Security Administration data.

How many people are named Louise?

338,662 babies have been named Louise in the United States since 1880, based on Social Security card applications.

When was the name Louise most popular?

Louise peaked in 1920, when 9,226 newborns received the name.

Is Louise a boy or girl name?

Louise is overwhelmingly a girl's name: 99% of babies with the name.

Is the name Louise rising or falling?

Louise is on the rise, noticeably more popular now than a decade ago.

Will Louise become more popular?

Louise is trending upward. If the recent trend holds, we project roughly 734 girls named Louise in 2030, which would rank around #424. Forecasts assume the current trend continues and become less certain further out.

Who are famous people named Louise?

Well-known people named Louise include Louise Fletcher (actor), Louise Brooks (actor), Louise of Hesse-Kassel (companion).

Names like Louise

Names that sound and feel close to Louise: shared sounds, similar era, similar popularity. Each links to its full history.

Compare Louise with similar names → More names starting with L →