Love
- Pronunciation
- [Love]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Affection
- Origin
- English
About the Name Love
Love is a word-name drawn straight from the English vocabulary, carrying the simple, powerful meaning of deep affection. Names taken directly from virtue and emotion words have a long tradition in English, from Faith and Grace to Hope and Joy, and Love joins that lineage as perhaps the boldest and most heartfelt of them all — a single syllable that manages to say everything a parent might wish for a child in one clear word.
As a given name, Love is striking in its directness. It needs no translation and no decoding; its meaning is its message. That clarity gives it a romantic, almost lyrical quality, and its brevity makes it feel both thoroughly modern and quietly timeless. It pairs easily with longer middle names and stands out for its sincerity in a sea of more decorative choices. Recorded variants include Lovey, a softer, more diminutive form with a tender, affectionate ring.
Love first entered the US Social Security top-1000 for girls in 2022 and reached its best rank of #732 in 2023 with 384 births. It remains an active choice, ranking #846 in 2024 with 319 births, after debuting at #750 in 2022. Across its brief run it already accounts for 1,089 recorded births — a tender, word-driven name making its mark in very recent American naming. It stands out as one of the most sincere and openhearted of all the modern virtue names.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Love
US Popularity History (2022–2025)
Annual US births named Love by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2022 with 386 girls named Love (girl rank #750 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #957 for girls (269 US births). That's 207 places below its 2022 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 Love Most Popular?
Average girl-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 girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Love the strongest states are Nevada, Maryland, Indiana.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nevada | #439 | 27 |
| 2 | Maryland | #646 | 58 |
| 3 | Indiana | #673 | 29 |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | #730 | 71 |
| 5 | North Carolina | #740 | 53 |
| 6 | Virginia | #747 | 31 |
| 7 | Arizona | #751 | 35 |
| 8 | Texas | #763 | 126 |
| 9 | Georgia | #764 | 74 |
| 10 | California | #766 | 211 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York | #880 | 58 |
| 2 | Illinois | #874 | 56 |
| 3 | Florida | #828 | 125 |
| 4 | Ohio | #786 | 63 |
| 5 | Michigan | #773 | 41 |
| 6 | New Jersey | #770 | 32 |
| 7 | California | #766 | 211 |
| 8 | Georgia | #764 | 74 |
| 9 | Texas | #763 | 126 |
| 10 | Arizona | #751 | 35 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Love in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Love?
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 Love to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Love against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
Love Baby Name Ideas
- Should You Use a Baby Name a Close Friend Has Already Chosen? A Real-Life Overlap Test
- Should Sibling Names Be Similar in Popularity? Building a Set Without Ranking the Children
- Amelia or Emilia? How to Hear the Different Openings, Initials, and Full-Name Rhythm
- 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
- Should First and Middle Names Come From the Same Language or Origin? Mixing With a Clear Family Story
- 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
- Can You Use a Different-Gender Name as an Honor Name? Building a Recognizable Family Connection
- What Is Teddy Short For? From Theodore and Edward to Standalone Teddy
- What Is Evie Short For? From Eve and Evelyn to Evangeline
- Baby Names for Last Names Starting With R: Manage the Repeated R Without Flattening the Surname
- Should Sibling Names Be Similar in Length? Pairing a Short Name With a Long One
- Should First and Middle Names Start With the Same Letter? Testing Alliteration Beyond the Monogram
- Best Middle Names for Lucy: Balance the Long-E Ending, Initials, and Surname
- Should Sibling Names Have the Same Level of Formality? Pairing Full Classics With Short Modern Names
- Baby Names for Last Names With an Apostrophe: Keep the Full Name Clear on Forms and Aloud
- How to Honor a Relative Who Was Known by a Nickname, Middle Name, or Chosen Name