Adonis
Meaning
lord; god of beauty and desire
The story
Adonis is the beautiful youth of Greek myth, beloved of Aphrodite, dead too young and mourned into an annual festival; underneath the Greek sits the Semitic adon, lord, the same root that prays through Adonai. The word long ago became English shorthand for a beautiful man, which makes the name an open declaration; families choosing it are, like the ones choosing Messiah, not being subtle, and the record says more of them agree every decade: about 100 in the 1950s creeping to 1,700 by the 1990s, then 2,400, then 6,100, and already 10,300 so far this decade, past the full 2010s with years to run. In our records it goes to boys about 21,600 to 100. The myth's fine print, beauty cut short and grieved forever, tends to go unread at the certificate desk, which is probably for the best.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Adonis peaked in the 2020s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
2,049 people · the #5,029 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 100,000 · median age 33
Among people named Adonis living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 91 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Adonis
Most people given the name Adonis in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Adonis deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Adonis truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Adonis fits with your family’s names and surname.
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