Spencer
- Pronunciation
- [Spen-cer]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Keeper Of Provisions
- Origin
- English
About the Name Spencer
Spencer is an English surname meaning "steward" or "dispenser of provisions" — from the medieval English spenser referring to the household servant who managed and distributed pantry supplies. The surname appears in English records continuously since at least the 13th century. The Spencer family of Althorp produced one of the most-prominent British noble families, including Diana Spencer (Princess of Wales, 1961–1997).
Notable American bearers include American Civil War general Spencer Tracy (using Spencer as a first name; American actor 1900–1967, two-time Oscar winner whose career through Boys Town, Inherit the Wind, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner made him one of the foundational American screen actors); American politician Spencer Compton; and contemporary American basketball player Spencer Hawes.
Spencer's American climb peaked in the 1990s and 2000s, reaching the US top 100 boys' rank from 1990 through 2010. The name has held a top-200 range since. The name's appeal sits in three contemporary American naming preferences: the surname-style sophistication, the in-built dignified British/Princess Diana association, and the popular two-syllable hard-consonant structure. Two firm syllables, hard consonants, and tonal versatility across casual and formal registers. The name reads as both classically British and contemporary American. Common nicknames Spence (the dominant short form, casual and adult), Spenny, and the rare Cer each carry distinct registers; the alternate spelling Spenser (with the S) has its own SSA tracking but is much rarer. There are no significant international variants since the name's first-name use is essentially English-American.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Spencer
US Popularity History (1992–2025)
Annual US births named Spencer by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1998 with 4,619 boys named Spencer (boy rank #84 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #360 for boys (908 US births). That's 276 places below its 1998 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.
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Where in the US Is Spencer 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 Spencer the strongest states are Alaska, New Hampshire, Maine.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | #149 | 29 |
| 2 | New Hampshire | #181 | 48 |
| 3 | Maine | #192 | 52 |
| 4 | Montana | #206 | 27 |
| 5 | Delaware | #207 | 23 |
| 6 | North Dakota | #215 | 28 |
| 7 | West Virginia | #216 | 95 |
| 8 | Kentucky | #233 | 217 |
| 9 | Missouri | #240 | 287 |
| 10 | Utah | #241 | 231 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | #494 | 638 |
| 2 | Texas | #478 | 622 |
| 3 | Nevada | #457 | 51 |
| 4 | Georgia | #431 | 227 |
| 5 | New Jersey | #429 | 168 |
| 6 | Arizona | #426 | 167 |
| 7 | Louisiana | #395 | 131 |
| 8 | Florida | #386 | 454 |
| 9 | Maryland | #384 | 143 |
| 10 | Colorado | #378 | 167 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Spencer in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Looking for names like Spencer?
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 Spencer to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Spencer against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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