Fun Facts About the Name Apple
- 474 babies named Apple: U.S. records list 474 babies given the name Apple from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Apple Mean?
Apple is an English word name: the ordinary noun for the fruit, used unchanged as a given name. The noun goes back to Old English æppel, which meant an apple but also served as a general word for fruit, with particular fruits usually named in compounds such as winæppel (grape, literally "wine-apple") and fingeræppel (date). The Old English word descends from Proto-Germanic *aplaz, which also produced Old Norse epli, Old High German apful, modern German Apfel, and Dutch appel.
Related words in other branches of Indo-European, including Old Irish ubull, Welsh afal, Lithuanian obuolys, and Russian яблоко (yabloko), point to a shared ancestor usually reconstructed as *h₂ébōl. The deeper origin of that root is uncertain, and some scholars have suggested it was borrowed into Indo-European from an older European language. The literal sense of the name is therefore just the fruit; the apple's later link with the forbidden fruit of Genesis is a symbolic reading, not part of the word's etymology. The English surname Apple comes from the same noun, used as a nickname or as a topographic name for someone who lived by an apple tree.
Apple Name History & Origins
Apple is a word name: the common noun for the fruit, adopted as a personal name with no change of form. Like other English word names, it draws on everyday vocabulary rather than on an inherited Germanic or biblical stock of names, and it can be given to a child on its own, without a saint's name or a family surname standing behind it.
The name reached a wide public audience in 2004, when the actress Gwyneth Paltrow and the musician Chris Martin gave it to their daughter; the choice was reported and discussed extensively in the press. The same noun also appears in English place names, as in Appleby and Appledore, where it is joined to Old Norse elements rather than used as a personal name.
How Popular is the Name Apple?
Apple has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2005. Its best rank was #3,409 in 2005.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #9,516 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 2024 | #15,461 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2023 | #8,518 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 2022 | #11,322 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 2021 | #7,662 | 14 | 0.0009% |
| 2020 | #6,957 | 16 | 0.0010% |
| 2019 | #7,054 | 16 | 0.0010% |
| 2018 | #12,607 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2017 | #11,741 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 2016 | #9,479 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2015 | #8,048 | 14 | 0.0008% |
| 2014 | #6,484 | 19 | 0.0011% |
| 2013 | #4,912 | 28 | 0.0016% |
| 2012 | #5,413 | 25 | 0.0014% |
| 2011 | #5,375 | 25 | 0.0014% |
| 2010 | #5,435 | 25 | 0.0014% |
| 2009 | #4,493 | 33 | 0.0018% |
| 2008 | #5,023 | 29 | 0.0015% |
| 2007 | #3,792 | 42 | 0.0022% |
| 2006 | #5,101 | 27 | 0.0014% |
| 2005 | #3,409 | 44 | 0.0024% |
| 2004 | #9,972 | 10 | 0.0005% |
| 1998 | #14,329 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1994 | #11,901 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1992 | #11,857 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1980 | #10,489 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1978 | #8,620 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1974 | #7,741 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1972 | #8,364 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1971 | #6,651 | 7 | 0.0004% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Apple Shapes Your Personality and Life?
Powerful and complete. You are good intellectually and require several outlets for your energies. You are not a builder but a planner, and you want others to carry out your plans. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.
You are seeking freedom, opportunities to enjoy life: to make love, to go places and to do things. You are very adventurous and willing to take risk to achieve your objectives. New ways and new experiences can't satisfy your restless nature. One adventure leads you to another. You are honest and fair, because you know that this is the only way to receive justice and honesty from other people. But your personal growth is vital for you, and it is difficult to be tied down by rules and obligations. Your restless spirit might best controlled by choosing the field of work that meet your demand for action and adventure.
✦ Apple's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Apple's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.