# Forest (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/forest/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | French |
| Meaning | “forest” |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 18,377 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 17,784 / 593 (3% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 476, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

French surname, from Old French forest (“forest”). Compare Laforest and Deforest. Also an English and Scottish surname, variant of Forrest and related to the above.

## What it means

Forest is grouped under forest.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 12 | 7,177 |
| 1994 | 27 | 3,927 |
| 1995 | 11 | 7,690 |
| 1996 | 8 | 9,871 |
| 2015 | 5 | 17,346 |
| 2016 | 6 | 14,948 |
| 2017 | 11 | 9,532 |
| 2018 | 8 | 11,777 |
| 2019 | 17 | 6,818 |
| 2020 | 15 | 7,334 |
| 2021 | 13 | 8,182 |
| 2022 | 16 | 7,084 |
| 2023 | 23 | 5,446 |
| 2024 | 19 | 6,245 |
| 2025 | 12 | 8,531 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 84 | 1,743 |
| 2012 | 76 | 1,898 |
| 2013 | 104 | 1,537 |
| 2014 | 132 | 1,325 |
| 2015 | 135 | 1,309 |
| 2016 | 178 | 1,102 |
| 2017 | 201 | 1,008 |
| 2018 | 212 | 979 |
| 2019 | 243 | 905 |
| 2020 | 291 | 798 |
| 2021 | 361 | 718 |
| 2022 | 375 | 704 |
| 2023 | 350 | 746 |
| 2024 | 365 | 720 |
| 2025 | 344 | 750 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 3 | 3,795 |
| 2017 | 3 | 5,765 |
| 2018 | 3 | 5,666 |
| 2019 | 7 | 3,151 |
| 2020 | 4 | 4,535 |
| 2021 | 5 | 3,961 |
| 2022 | 6 | 3,533 |
| 2023 | 6 | 3,598 |
| 2024 | 4 | 4,843 |
| 2025 | 4 | 4,867 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 3 | 4,527 |
| 2012 | 9 | 2,270 |
| 2013 | 9 | 2,216 |
| 2014 | 7 | 2,690 |
| 2015 | 11 | 2,020 |
| 2016 | 17 | 1,498 |
| 2017 | 19 | 1,339 |
| 2018 | 15 | 1,610 |
| 2019 | 27 | 1,030 |
| 2020 | 43 | 745 |
| 2021 | 65 | 584 |
| 2022 | 49 | 688 |
| 2023 | 69 | 550 |
| 2024 | 44 | 773 |
| 2025 | 37 | 856 |

## People named Forest

- Forest Whitaker, American actor
- Forest Ray Moulton, American astronomer and mathematician of the XXth century (1872–1952)
- Forest Able, American basketball player

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.