Lewis
- Pronunciation
- [Lew-is]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Renowned Fighter. Form Of Louis.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Lewis
Lewis descends from the Old French Louis (anglicized to Lewis), ultimately from the Old Germanic Hludwig, composed of hlud (famous) and wig (warrior) — yielding "renowned warrior" or "famous fighter." The name has been continuously used across English-speaking countries since the Norman Conquest of 1066, anchored by multiple French kings named Louis (eighteen French kings bore the name).
Notable bearers include the iconic American expedition leader Meriwether Lewis (using Lewis as a surname, 1774–1809, the iconic American explorer and co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 1804–1806); the iconic British author C.S. Lewis (Clive Staples Lewis, 1898–1963, the iconic British academic and author of The Chronicles of Narnia series and Mere Christianity); American actor Lewis Hamilton (using Hamilton as a surname, born 1985, the iconic British seven-time Formula One World Champion); and the iconic British physicist Lewis Carroll (the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832–1898, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland).
Lewis held a US top-50 boys' rank from 1880 through 1925 — over four decades of late-Victorian and early-20th-century American popularity. After a long mid-20th-century quiet period, the name has been climbing again through the 2010s and 2020s as part of the broader vintage-revival wave. Lewis climbed back into the US top 300 boys' rank by 2018 and the top 300 since. The name's appeal sits in three contemporary American naming preferences: the layered Old Germanic-French-British pedigree, the strong Meriwether Lewis American historical anchor and C.S. Lewis literary cultural anchor, and tonal versatility from rural-American to upwardly-mobile-American. Two firm syllables, soft consonants, and the name reads as both classical-British and contemporary American. Common nicknames Lew (the dominant short form, casual and warm), Lewie, and the rare Sis each carry distinct registers; the alternate spellings Lewis (the historical English spelling), Louis (the French spelling), and Luis (the Spanish spelling) have their own SSA tracking. International forms include Louis (French), Luigi (Italian), Luis (Spanish/Portuguese), Ludwig (German), and the original Old Germanic Hludwig.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Lewis
US Popularity History (1880–2025)
Annual US births named Lewis by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1921 with 2,712 boys named Lewis (boy rank #71 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #433 for boys (736 US births). That's 362 places below its 1921 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
Paste the snippet below on any HTML page. Includes a credit link back to 9BabyNames — please keep it intact.
Where in the US Is Lewis Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Lewis the strongest states are Alaska, Montana, Minnesota.
Strongest boys-name states
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | #837 | 264 |
| 2 | New Jersey | #831 | 38 |
| 3 | Florida | #796 | 130 |
| 4 | Arizona | #676 | 64 |
| 5 | Oklahoma | #629 | 47 |
| 6 | California | #627 | 423 |
| 7 | Maryland | #620 | 66 |
| 8 | New York | #587 | 239 |
| 9 | Illinois | #566 | 167 |
| 10 | Virginia | #562 | 127 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Lewis in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Famous People Named Lewis
1 notable figure from history and culture who share the name Lewis.
- Lewis Carroll — Novelist (1832)
Looking for names like Lewis?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Lewis to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Lewis against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
Lewis Baby Name Ideas
- Best Middle Names for Layla: Shape the L Rhythm, Open Ending, and Full-Name Flow
- Maya or Mia? How to Choose Between Two Short Names That Sound Closer Than They Look
- When a Nickname Starts With a Different Letter From the Legal Name: Plan for Initials, Forms, and Daily Use
- Baby Names for Last Names Starting With L: Keep the Repeated L Clear Without Losing Flow
- Best Middle Names for Ella: Build Space After the Double L and Open-A Ending
- Ivy or Iris? How to Choose Between Two Short Botanical Names
- Best Middle Names for Lucy: Balance the Long-E Ending, Initials, and Surname
- How to Honor a Relative Who Was Known by a Nickname, Middle Name, or Chosen Name
- When a Baby's First and Last Names Start With the Same Sound: Testing Alliteration in Real Life
- The Best Middle Names for Scarlett: Pairings That Balance a Crisp Final T
- The Best Middle Names for Chloe: Pairings That Balance a Bright Two-Syllable Name
- How to Test Whether a Baby Name Will Be Misheard in Daily Life
- The Best Middle Names for Hazel: Pairings That Keep a Compact Vintage Name Distinct
- Should Sibling Names Share an Initial? Building a Set That Stays Distinct in Daily Life
- The Best Middle Names for John: Pairings That Give a One-Syllable Classic More Range
- The Best Middle Names for Abigail: Pairings That Balance the Full Name and the Nickname
- Should You Keep Diacritics in a Baby Name? Choosing an Accurate Everyday Spelling
- The Best Middle Names for Elizabeth: Giving a Long Classic a Distinct Landing
- Should You Keep Your Baby Name Private Until Birth?
- How to Stress-Test a Baby Name Before You Commit