Atlas
Meaning
the enduring one who holds the sky
The story
Atlas held up the sky. In Greek myth he is the Titan condemned to bear the heavens on his shoulders forever, and the name is traditionally read as the enduring one, from a root meaning to bear or to suffer. The book of maps borrowed him later: Mercator put an Atlas on the frontispiece of his 1595 collection, and that kind of book has been an atlas ever since. As a given name it is almost brand new. US records show a scattering of Atlases through the twentieth century, never more than a couple of hundred a decade, then about 250 in the 2000s, 6,600 in the 2010s, and more than 19,000 so far this decade. It arrived with the current taste for mythological and word names, and it is one of the few that manages to sound like a burden and a compliment at the same time.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Atlas peaked in the 2020s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
225 people · the #23,360 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 25
Among people named Atlas living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2000s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 29 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Atlas
Most people given the name Atlas 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 Atlas deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Atlas 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 Atlas fits with your family’s names and surname.
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