Gregory

← Back to The Early Middle Ages

Boy · Ancient Greek

Gregory

Say it: GREG-uh-ree

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Greek grēgorios, 'watchful, vigilant'.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

Borne by many popes and Eastern saints and common across Europe.

Its wave through time

A fashion of the 1960s

In the United States

05101518801900192019401960198020002020Peak 1962per 1,000 babies of that sex
  • 711,932 babies given this name since 1880
  • At its height in 1962, about 1 in 94 boys
  • 678 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
  2. The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
  3. The Renaissance1400 to 1600
  4. Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
  5. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

Early ChristianGreekEnglishAmericanFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseGermanPolishRussianHungarian

The family of the name

Other spellings: Gregor

FrenchGrégoire
SpanishGregorio
ItalianGregorio
PortugueseGregório
GermanGregor
PolishGrzegorz
RussianGrigoriy
HungarianGergely

Famous bearers

  • Gregory the Great, pope
  • Gregory of Nazianzus, theologian
  • Gregory the Illuminator, apostle of Armenia

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
  • Calendars of saints and name days
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
  • English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.