Luke
given name · Latin script
Meaning: The name Luke is the English form of the Latin name Lucas, which is believed to derive from 'Lucanus', meaning 'a man from Lucania', a region in southern Italy
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/luk/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Luke is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in the United States than in any other country, where it is the 55th most common surname.
- CHSwitzerland1 in 735as Roth(measured from records)
- NZNew Zealand≈1 in 868as Ross
- CACanada≈1 in 1.1Kas Ross
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than Luke itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- United States (measured from records)
- #237 (measured from records)
- 7 (measured from records)
- Sources
- 608 (measured from records)
- 1 in 561 (inferred from the name graph)
229,368 named Ross, 2010
of 19M surnames
recorded for this name
Highest-authority source
Ecuador, as Lucas
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
Locally spelled Ross in US United States, CA Canada, NZ New Zealand, Luca in IT Italy, CH Switzerland, Roth in DE Germany and Luque in EC Ecuador.
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
The name Luke is the English form of the Latin name Lucas, which is believed to derive from 'Lucanus', meaning 'a man from Lucania', a region in southern Italy. It is also popularly associated with the Latin word 'lux', meaning 'light'.
Sources 1
- Biblical Names Compiled Database
Attested across 14 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Luke counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | #55 | 229,368as Ross | 1 in 1.4K | 267K | Ross | 608 |
| NG Nigeria | — | ≈74,000 est. | ≈1 in 2.9K | — | Luke | 75 |
| DE Germany | #30 | ≈59,000 est. | ≈1 in 1.4K | listed | Roth | 235 |
| GB United Kingdom | #67 | ≈57,000 est. | ≈1 in 1.2K | 2.8K | Luke | 360 |
| IT Italy | #69 | ≈55,000 est. | ≈1 in 1.1K | 5 | Luca | 305 |
| CA Canada | #34 | ≈36,000 est. | ≈1 in 1.1K | 139 | Ross | 295 |
| EC Ecuador | — | 30,159as Lucas | 1 in 561 | 30K | Luque | 36 |
| AU Australia | #64 | ≈23,000 est. | ≈1 in 1.1K | 353 | Luke | 348 |
| CH Switzerland | #20 | 11,430as Roth | 1 in 735 | 11K | Luca | 139 |
| NZ New Zealand | #49 | ≈5,700 est. | ≈1 in 868 | 75 | Ross | 165 |
229,368 people counted by Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010, 2010. Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; ONS — Baby names England and Wales (2024); ISTAT — Contanomi newborn per-name series (1999–2024, JSONP backend); Australian national given names (aggregated state BDM); Alberta Open Government — Frequency and Ranking of Baby Names by Year and Gender; INEC — civil registry names; DIA — Baby name popularity (1900–present); BFS — Familiennamen der Wohnbevölkerung (surnames). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Luke is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
As the author of the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, Luke provides the most complete historical narrative of the life of Jesus and the development of the early Christian church. His work emphasizes the universal scope of the gospel, the role of the Holy Spirit, and God's compassionate concern for the marginalized and outcasts.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Luke belongs to the author of the third Gospel, a physician known for his loyalty, compassion, and detailed storytelling. It suggests qualities of intelligence, care, and faithfulness.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
In English, Greek ‘of Lucania’; popularized by St Luke and brought to Ireland by the Anglo-Normans.
as a nameIrish first names
In English, Luke was a popular form of Lucas, from Greek Aovκâς, a man from Lucania; first attested Luke 1277 Ipm (Nt)
as a nameA Dictionary of English Surnames
In English, Man from Lucania; one of Christ's apostles; author of the third book of the New Testament.
as a nameBaby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Luke Perryb. 1966USAmerican actor (1966–2019)
- Luke Wilsonb. 1971USAmerican actor (born 1971)
- Luke Evansb. 1979GBWelsh actor and singer
- Luke Hemsworthb. 1980AUAustralian actor
- Luke Macfarlaneb. 1980CACanadian and American actor
- Luke Fordb. 1981CAAustralian-Canadian actor
- Luke Mitchellb. 1985AUAustralian actor
- Luke Braceyb. 1989AUAustralian actor (born 1989)
- Luke Blackb. 1992RSSerbian singer-songwriter (born 1992)
- Luke Shawb. 1995GBEnglish association football player (born 1995)
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 110 sources across 54 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 267K | #202 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010 | 2010 | 18K | #1,961 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020 | 2020 | 17K | #2,036 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000 | 2000 | 17K | #1,940 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2025 | 6.9K | — |
| CA Canada | Statistics Canada — First names at birth by sex at birth (Table 17-10-0147-01) | 2024 | 540 | — |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 388 | #202 |
| CA Canada | Alberta Open Government — Frequency and Ranking of Baby Names by Year and Gender | 2024 | 96 | #26 |
| AU Australia | Australian national given names (aggregated state BDM) | 2023 | 92 | — |
| GB United Kingdom | NRS — Baby names Scotland full list (1974–present) | 2024 | 89 | #50 |
| AU Australia | AU state BDM — consolidated top baby names (NSW + SA + QLD) | 2024 | 88 | #96 |
| AU Australia | NSW BDM — Popular baby names (1952–present) | 2024 | 88 | #96 |
Reference works 9
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Nişanyan Adlar (Turkish given-name national-registry frequency)
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Rymut, Słownik nazwisk współcześnie w Polsce używanych (10 vols, IJP PAN, Kraków 1992–1994) — every Polish surname in the PESEL register at the end of 1990, with bearer counts nationally and per voivodeship1990
- Ethiopian name tokens (GitHub lehagere/ethiopian-names, 40/60 condominium list)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Luke a male or female name?
- Luke is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- What does the name Luke mean, and where does it come from?
- The name Luke is the English form of the Latin name Lucas, which is believed to derive from 'Lucanus', meaning 'a man from Lucania', a region in southern Italy. Recorded by Biblical Names Compiled Database.
- What are other forms of the name Luke?
- In the etymology graph, Lucas, Luca and Luc are forms of the same name in other languages; Lucky is a recorded short or pet form.
- How common is the name Luke?
- In the United States, the national register counted 229,368 people named Ross in 2010, about 1 in 1.4 thousand residents.
- How common is Luke compared with other names?
- In the United States, Luke is the 55th most common surname of 6,282,806 surnames recorded there.
- In which country does Luke have the most bearers?
- In the United States, the national register counted about 229 thousand people named Ross, more than in any other country we hold.
- Where is Luke most common?
- No national register we hold counts the spelling Luke itself. The densest figure for its family of spellings is Ecuador's: the national register counts about 1 in 561 people named Lucas.
- How do you pronounce Luke?
- A machine transcription gives /luk/ (IPA) for English.
What do you want to know about Luke?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/lukeThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Luke” — the 55th most common surname in United States. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.