Will my child share the name Orion with classmates?

Unlikely. With around 113 UK babies named Orion per year, your child will almost certainly be the only Orion in their class, and possibly the only one in the whole school.

Is Orion becoming more or less popular in the UK?

Orion is at its highest recorded position — #370 in 2025, with 113 births. In 2020 it ranked #426.

What does the name Orion mean?

The name Orion has Greek origins and means "Rising in the sky; great hunter of Greek mythology". Names with clear etymological roots tend to age well — they carry weight beyond fashion cycles and give children a story to tell about their name.

Is Orion a popular baby name in the United States?

Orion appears in the US top 500 at #325 in 2024 — moderately popular in America, though less so than in the UK.

👦 Boy's name 💎 Relatively Unique UK #370

Orion

🗳️ Add Orion to a family shortlist

Orion is a distinctive choice, ranked #370 in 2025. Your child is likely to be the only Orion in their class.

Origin & Meaning

Greek — Rising in the sky; great hunter of Greek mythology

💎

UK Rank 2025

#370

US Rank #334

About the Name Orion

Orion has seen a notable decline in recent years, dropping 5466 places in five years. It was most popular in 2020 at #426 — parents choosing it today are making a deliberately counter-trend decision. The name has been a consistent presence in UK records since 1997.

The name carries Greek roots, where it means "Rising in the sky; great hunter of Greek mythology". Names with strong etymological stories tend to age well — they carry weight beyond fashion cycles.

Orion is fairly common in the UK, so your child is very likely to be the only Orion in their class.

In the US it ranks even higher at #325, where it enjoys a particularly strong following.

⭐ Famous People Named Orion

Orion (singer) — James Hodges Ellis, also known as Orion, was an American singer.
Orion Kerkering — Richard Orion Kerkering is an American professional baseball player who is a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Biographical summaries are shortened from Wikipedia and are used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence; those summaries remain available under that same licence.