Fun Facts About the Name Handsome
- 127 babies named Handsome: U.S. records list 127 babies given the name Handsome from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Handsome Mean?
Handsome is a word name: it is the English adjective handsome used directly as a personal name, not a form inherited from an older given name. The adjective is built from the noun hand and the suffix -some, the same ending found in troublesome and wholesome. Its earliest sense in Middle English was "easy to handle, handy, convenient," and it could also describe a person as deft or capable. The familiar modern sense, "good-looking, of fine appearance," developed later, in the 1500s, and was first applied to things before it was applied to people. The word also keeps a related use meaning "generous in amount," as in a handsome sum.
When the adjective is used as a name, the meaning carried over is its current everyday sense, "attractive, good-looking." The older "handy" sense is the literal etymology, not the sense a name-bearer's name would normally be understood to express.
Handsome Name History & Origins
Because Handsome is simply the ordinary adjective pressed into service as a name, it has no chain of inherited forms running back through Old English, Norman French, or Latin the way names such as William or Cecily do. The underlying word, however, is old: hand descends from Old English hand, and the -some suffix from Old English -sum, so the compound existed in English long before it was ever written on a birth record. Its recorded meanings shifted over the centuries - "handy, dexterous" early on, then "fine-looking," then also "substantial in size or amount."
Using a common adjective as a personal name is an old habit in English-speaking regions, found in nicknames and bynames as well as in formal given names, and the line between a descriptive byname and a settled given name is often blurry in surviving records. That makes the first use of Handsome as a formal given name difficult to pin down; it is a rare name, most often encountered in English-speaking countries, and it is generally chosen for its plain descriptive sense rather than for a saint, a ancestor, or a literary figure.
How Popular is the Name Handsome?
Handsome 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 2013. Its best rank was #6,380 in 2013.
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 | #7,862 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 2024 | #11,378 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2023 | #11,320 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 2022 | #13,022 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2021 | #9,135 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 2020 | #8,292 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2019 | #10,110 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2017 | #7,267 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2016 | #9,146 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 2014 | #11,204 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2013 | #6,380 | 13 | 0.0007% |
| 2012 | #12,923 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2009 | #11,488 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2008 | #8,540 | 9 | 0.0004% |
| 2007 | #11,425 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2006 | #11,133 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1996 | #8,307 | 6 | 0.0003% |
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 Handsome Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You attract success and money. You are a lover of nature and do not need others for your happiness. You are self sufficient. You strive for material success and power and have business sense. You possess strong organizational abilities, can be a good manager, and executive by nature. You are capable of great achievement in business and finance. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.
You are very intuitive. You have a reservoir of inspired wisdom combined with inherited analytical ability, which could reward you through expressions of spiritual leadership, business analysis, marketing, artistic visions, and scientific research. Operating on spiritual side of your individuality can bring you to the great heights, and drop you off if you neglect your spiritual identity. You are always looking for an opportunity to investigate the unknown, to use and show your mental abilities, to find the purpose and meaning of life. You want to grow wise and to understand people and things. You need privacy to replenish your energy. You have a unique way of thinking, intuitive, reflective, absorbing.
✦ Handsome's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Handsome's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.