Adler
- Pronunciation
- [Ad-ler]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- An Eagle.
- Origin
- German
About the Name Adler
Adler is a German name meaning "eagle" — a word that began as a surname and has crossed into use as a given name. The eagle association gives it a bold, soaring character, evoking strength, vision, and freedom. As a transferred surname, it fits neatly into the modern American taste for crisp, vaguely heraldic boys' names with a strong consonant edge and a clear, vivid meaning.
In the United States, Adler is a recent arrival to the broader popularity charts. It first entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2020 and reached its peak the following year, 2021, at rank #907. It has held a steady spot near the lower end of the list since — recorded at #975 in 2022, #945 in 2023, and #961 in 2024 with 233 births — and across this short window it accounts for 1,197 top-1000 births.
The name's appeal is its combination of a strong surname feel with a memorable animal meaning. Two clean syllables ("Ad-ler"), a distinctive look, and the symbolism of the eagle make it a contemporary choice for parents seeking something handsome and uncommon. Its recent climb places it among the freshest German-derived boys' names in current American use. For parents, Adler offers the appeal of a surname-style name with real meaning behind it — the eagle's symbolism of vision and freedom — and an edge of distinction that comes from arriving on the charts only recently rather than being worn smooth by decades of use.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Adler
US Popularity History (2020–2025)
Annual US births named Adler by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2025 with 275 boys named Adler (boy rank #871 that year).
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 Adler 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 Adler the strongest states are Iowa, Kansas, Arkansas.
Strongest boys-name states
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington | #883 | 31 |
| 2 | Michigan | #879 | 44 |
| 3 | North Carolina | #832 | 58 |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | #782 | 52 |
| 5 | Illinois | #753 | 107 |
| 6 | Ohio | #742 | 100 |
| 7 | Virginia | #742 | 35 |
| 8 | Colorado | #740 | 29 |
| 9 | Tennessee | #714 | 67 |
| 10 | Alabama | #703 | 28 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Adler in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Adler?
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 Adler to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Adler 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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