Fletcher
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Meaning
surname for a maker of arrows, Middle English from Old French flechier
Goes by Fletch. See all nicknames
The story
Fletcher is the occupational surname for a maker of arrows, from Middle English by way of Old French flechier. It is one of the trades that vanished into names: nobody has ordered a sheaf of arrows in centuries, but the craftsman is still on the school register. American records show it present every decade since the 1890s, mostly a few hundred to a thousand boys, then a modern updraft: about 1,700 in the 2000s, about 3,500 in the 2010s, and about 2,700 so far this decade. The nickname Fletch comes free. Surname names drift in and out of style, but the craft names, Fletcher, Cooper, Mason, seem to hold longest. Perhaps because they still say the oldest thing a name can say: this family makes things, and makes them straight.
How popular is Fletcher around the world?
In the United States, 2,814 babies were named Fletcher between 2020 and 2025. In South Australia, 16 boys were registered as Fletcher in 2017.
Fletcher is on the official records of the United States, South Australia, New South Wales, New Zealand, Scotland, England and Wales and Canada.
United States
1 in 7,700
In the United States, 2,814 babies were named Fletcher between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Fletcher peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure. In US birth records Fletcher has stayed between 545 and 3,489 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
South Australia
1 in 1,1002017
In South Australia, 16 boys were registered as Fletcher in 2017.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
New South Wales
#67 · 2025
In New South Wales, 119 boys named Fletcher were registered in 2025, ranked 67th in that year’s top 100 for boys.
share of that year’s top-100 registrations
New South Wales (not all of Australia) publishes only each year’s 100 most popular names per sex, so a missing year means below that top 100, not rare. Source: NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, popular baby names
New Zealand
1 in 1,600
In New Zealand, 35 boys named Fletcher were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Scotland
1 in 2,900
In Scotland, 16 boys named Fletcher were registered in 2024, the 246th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
England and Wales
1 in 5,600
In England and Wales, 104 boys named Fletcher were born in 2025, the 395th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Canada
1 in 9,600
In Canada, 38 boys named Fletcher were born in 2024, the 706th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Ireland
last on record 2023
Fletcher is not on the 2025 record for Ireland, where names under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
Keep exploring
The Fletcher deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Fletcher 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 Fletcher fits with your family’s names and surname.
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