# Louis (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/louis/  
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 | “loud”, “famous”, “battle” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈluː.i/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | Lou, Louie |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 409,317 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 406,470 / 2,847 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 36,928, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From French Louis, from Middle French Loïs, Loïc, &c., from Old French Looïs, Luis, Lodhuvigs, Lodevis, Lodhwig, &c., from Latin Ludovicus, from Clodovicus, from Frankish *Hlūdawīg, from Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz (“loud; famous”) + *wīgą (“battle”). Doublet of Lewis (which is inherited since the Middle Ages) and, more remotely, Aloysius, Luis, Ludwig, Luigi, and Clovis.

## What it means

Louis is grouped under famous and warrior.

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 15 | 5,999 |
| 1991 | 5 | 14,458 |
| 1992 | 5 | 14,576 |
| 1993 | 7 | 11,275 |
| 1994 | 10 | 8,520 |
| 1995 | 9 | 9,217 |
| 1996 | 7 | 11,294 |
| 2000 | 5 | 16,518 |
| 2002 | 5 | 17,043 |
| 2015 | 5 | 18,066 |
| 2019 | 5 | 17,033 |
| 2020 | 6 | 14,428 |
| 2022 | 5 | 16,741 |
| 2023 | 5 | 16,637 |
| 2025 | 6 | 14,230 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 921 | 332 |
| 2012 | 1,057 | 312 |
| 2013 | 1,070 | 315 |
| 2014 | 1,229 | 289 |
| 2015 | 1,210 | 296 |
| 2016 | 1,242 | 290 |
| 2017 | 1,302 | 277 |
| 2018 | 1,388 | 260 |
| 2019 | 1,475 | 249 |
| 2020 | 1,334 | 260 |
| 2021 | 1,422 | 251 |
| 2022 | 1,442 | 245 |
| 2023 | 1,478 | 238 |
| 2024 | 1,510 | 236 |
| 2025 | 1,391 | 249 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 961 | 68 |
| 2012 | 815 | 81 |
| 2013 | 827 | 77 |
| 2014 | 999 | 68 |
| 2015 | 854 | 78 |
| 2016 | 911 | 71 |
| 2017 | 819 | 82 |
| 2018 | 941 | 69 |
| 2019 | 1,274 | 53 |
| 2020 | 1,186 | 52 |
| 2021 | 1,240 | 50 |
| 2022 | 1,184 | 48 |
| 2023 | 1,236 | 45 |
| 2024 | 1,092 | 47 |
| 2025 | 1,030 | 49 |

## In other languages

- Armenian: Լուդովիկոս, Լյուդովիկոս, Լուի
- Catalan: Lluís
- Chinese: 路易斯
- Czech: Ludvík
- Danish: Ludvig
- Dutch: Lodewijk
- Esperanto: Ludoviko
- Finnish: Ludvig
- French: Louis, Ludovic
- Georgian: ლუი
- German: Ludwig
- Greek: Λουδοβίκος
- Hebrew: לוּאִי
- Hungarian: Lajos
- Icelandic: Lúðvík
- Irish: Lughaidh
- Italian: Luigi, Ludovico
- Japanese: ルイ
- Korean: 루이, 루이스
- Latin: Ludovicus, Aloysius

## People named Louis

- Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist (1822–1895)
- Louis Armstrong, American jazz musician, trumpeter and singer (1901–1971)
- Louis de Funès, French actor and comedian (1914–1983)
- Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French writer (1894–1961)
- Louis Braille, French organist and teacher (1809-1852), inventor of braille, a system for reading and wri
- Louis Aragon, French poet (1897–1982)
- Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French chemist and physicist (1778–1850)
- Louis Daguerre, French scientist, artist and photographer (1787–1851)
- Louis van Gaal, Dutch footbal player and manager
- Louis Althusser, French Marxist philosopher (1918–1990)
- Louis Néel, French physicist (1904-2000)
- Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer

## 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.