# Primrose (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/primrose/  
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 | girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | “wood”, “tree”, “moor”, “heath”, “first”, “promontory” |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 1,033 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 0 / 1,033 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 3,226, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

The surname derives from a place name in Fife, Scotland; Watson (1926) derived this from Pictish/Proto-Brythonic *prenn (“wood, tree”) + *rros (“moor, heath”). Taylor instead argued for Scottish Gaelic prím (“first”) + ros (“promontory”). Changed by folk etymology because of phonetic resemblance to primrose. The given name is one of the 19th-century flower names.

## What it means

Primrose 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 5 | 11,785 |
| 2012 | 17 | 7,386 |
| 2013 | 35 | 4,224 |
| 2014 | 42 | 3,703 |
| 2015 | 51 | 3,245 |
| 2016 | 59 | 2,895 |
| 2017 | 59 | 2,865 |
| 2018 | 77 | 2,380 |
| 2019 | 87 | 2,151 |
| 2020 | 85 | 2,147 |
| 2021 | 93 | 2,068 |
| 2022 | 88 | 2,170 |
| 2023 | 91 | 2,120 |
| 2024 | 91 | 2,115 |
| 2025 | 69 | 2,561 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 31 | 1,096 |
| 2012 | 37 | 975 |
| 2013 | 66 | 616 |
| 2014 | 93 | 465 |
| 2015 | 192 | 259 |
| 2016 | 223 | 232 |
| 2017 | 237 | 220 |
| 2018 | 239 | 213 |
| 2019 | 217 | 230 |
| 2020 | 320 | 157 |
| 2021 | 315 | 162 |
| 2022 | 297 | 170 |
| 2023 | 247 | 200 |
| 2024 | 272 | 179 |
| 2025 | 259 | 196 |

## 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.