Fun Facts About the Name Bode
- More than 4 thousand babies named Bode: U.S. records list 4,757 babies given the name Bode from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Bode Mean?
Bode generally means "messenger" or "herald." The name comes from Germanic vocabulary: Old High German boto and Middle High German bote both mean "messenger," with related forms in Middle Low German and Old Saxon. In German and Dutch use, Bode is chiefly a surname, and a surname of this kind could arise in more than one way - as an occupational name for a messenger or herald, as a short form of a longer personal name such as Bodo, or as a locational name from a place or river, including the Bode in Saxony-Anhalt. These are not rival readings of a single word; they are different paths by which separate families came to share the spelling.
English has a lookalike word: the verb bode, "to announce" or "to foretell," from Old English bodian. It is a cognate of German Bote and shares the same Germanic root, but it is not the source of the personal name.
Bode Name History & Origins
Bode appears as a personal name within the Germanic naming customs of northern Germany, Frisia, and the Low Countries. Medieval Germanic names were often built from two elements, and speakers commonly shortened them in everyday use; single-element forms ending in -o or -e, such as Bodo and Bode, came out of that habit. The "messenger" element also survives inside longer compound names, for instance Bodewin.
The name's longer life, though, is as a surname. Families called Bode are found in German- and Dutch-speaking regions and in Scandinavia, where the spelling also appears in Danish and Norwegian use. Emigrants carried the surname to North America, and in the United States it has also been taken as a first name; the alpine ski racer Bode Miller is a familiar bearer. The art historian Wilhelm von Bode is another notable figure, and the Bode Museum in Berlin is named for him.
How Popular is the Name Bode?
Bode recorded its highest annual U.S. birth count in 2025. Its best rank was #748 in 2025.
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 | #748 | 347 | 0.0203% |
| 2024 | #804 | 312 | 0.0182% |
| 2023 | #1,006 | 218 | 0.0128% |
| 2022 | #959 | 236 | 0.0135% |
| 2021 | #824 | 289 | 0.0165% |
| 2020 | #821 | 280 | 0.0162% |
| 2019 | #957 | 223 | 0.0124% |
| 2018 | #922 | 231 | 0.0127% |
| 2017 | #1,121 | 171 | 0.0092% |
| 2016 | #1,007 | 203 | 0.0107% |
| 2015 | #850 | 264 | 0.0138% |
| 2014 | #783 | 295 | 0.0154% |
| 2013 | #1,427 | 116 | 0.0061% |
| 2012 | #1,113 | 166 | 0.0088% |
| 2011 | #1,010 | 191 | 0.0101% |
| 2010 | #775 | 287 | 0.0150% |
| 2009 | #1,666 | 94 | 0.0047% |
| 2008 | #1,533 | 105 | 0.0051% |
| 2007 | #1,230 | 143 | 0.0069% |
| 2006 | #856 | 235 | 0.0114% |
| 2005 | #1,650 | 82 | 0.0041% |
| 2004 | #2,132 | 55 | 0.0028% |
| 2003 | #1,937 | 60 | 0.0030% |
| 2002 | #1,112 | 131 | 0.0067% |
| 2000 | #7,519 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 1999 | #7,957 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1998 | #6,921 | 8 | 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 Bode Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You can go to great heights and equally great depths. You are emotional and fixed in your opinions. You are hospitable, sentimental, often psychic, sometimes moody. You are ruled by love and the lack of it and feel a need to be encouraged and appreciated. You are frank, methodical and believe in law, system and order.
Position and social status is very important for you and you are always looking for way to improve your position in society. You have power and ability to chose your own destiny and achieve anything you want in life. You can expand in any direction according to your will and the set of values. You have passion for justice and belong to the position of authority. You have an inherent courage and endurance to accomplish "The Impossible Dream". With the power comes responsibility. You hold keys to the material world, but with this gift comes high spiritual responsibility to be fair and true to others. You are philosophical and mature, determined and intense with a desire to endure, often religious.
✦ Bode's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Bode's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.