Fun Facts About the Name Plum
- 16 babies named Plum: U.S. records list 16 babies given the name Plum from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Plum Mean?
Plum is the English word for the fruit of trees in the genus Prunus, and as a given name it carries that literal sense. The word comes from Old English plūme, borrowed from Latin prūnum "plum." The same Latin word gave the tree name Prunus and, by way of Old French, the English word prune. Latin prūnum is usually traced to Greek proumnon, which appears to have been taken into Greek from an older Mediterranean language rather than built from Greek roots, so the deepest origin remains uncertain.
The name is the ordinary English noun used directly as a name, not a translation of a foreign personal name. Words in other languages that mean "plum" - Chinese Mei (梅), Japanese Ume - belong to separate naming traditions and are not the source of the English name.
Plum Name History & Origins
Plum, Plumb, and Plumbe are found as English surnames from the medieval period onward. These surnames generally arose either from a place where plum trees grew or from work connected with the fruit, and the same word also supplied English place names.
The given name is far less common than the surname and has no long continuous tradition in England. It belongs with the group of English word names taken from plants and flowers, and it appears as an occasional choice in Britain and the United States, sometimes as a middle name or as an affectionate form rather than a formal first name.
Plum has also served as a nickname. The English writer P. G. Wodehouse (1881 - 1975), whose full name was Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, was known from childhood as "Plum," a shortening of Pelham.
The word itself has long had a figurative sense of something excellent or highly desirable, as in "a plum job," and in nineteenth-century British slang a "plum" was a sum of £100,000.
How Popular is the Name Plum?
Plum 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 2025. Its best rank was #14,511 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 | #14,511 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 2022 | #17,169 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2011 | #18,905 | 5 | 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 Plum Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You have a power of expression, either in speaking or writing. You are in favor for studying and research. You are clever, clear-sighted and intellectual. You don't like to let others know your true feelings. You might be atheistic or agnostic. Emergencies may raise your intuitive abilities in order to resolve conflict or situation. You become very creative under the pressure, and have quite original ideas to make the best out of it.
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.
✦ Plum's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Plum's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.