Love
Torn between Love and another name? Compare them side by side →
Meaning
virtue name from the English word 'love'
The story
On a tennis court, love means nothing, or at least a score of zero. A wonderfully neat story says the term came from French l'oeuf, egg, because an egg resembles a zero and English players misheard the word. The trouble is that language historians cannot find French evidence for l'oeuf used that way. Merriam-Webster treats the egg as folk etymology and considers a link with playing for love more plausible, while admitting the exact origin remains uncertain. That unresolved rally suits the word. Love is an English word-name from Old English lufu, carrying affection in ordinary speech and emptiness in one specialized game. The meanings are not opposites so much as an accident of usage. A player can begin at love-all with everything still possible. A child called Love is not a slogan or a guaranteed temperament. The name simply lets a very old feeling share space with one of language's most charming unsolved points.
How popular is Love around the world?
In the United States, 1,995 babies were named Love between 2020 and 2025.
Love is on the official records of the United States, Canada, France, Chile, England and Wales, Austria, Argentina and Brazil.
United States
1 in 11,000
In the United States, 1,995 babies were named Love between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Love peaked in the 2020s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Canada
1 in 26,000
In Canada, 14 girls named Love were born in 2024, ranked 1,615th among girls 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)
France
1 in 43,000
In France, about 15 girls named Love were born in 2025, ranked 1,856th among girls that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Chile
1 in 45,000
In Chile, 4 girls were registered as Love in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
The count never rose above 7 in a year, too few to chart.
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
England and Wales
1 in 45,000
In England and Wales, 13 girls named Love were born in 2025, ranked 2,138th among girls 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
Austria
1 in 76,000
In Austria, 1 girl named Love was born in 2025, ranked 1,875th among girls that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Argentina
1 in 220,000
In Argentina, 3 newborns were given the name Love in 2024.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 70 people in Brazil were named Love, ranked 52,921st, with a median age of 19.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Mexico City City
last on record 2021
Love is not on the 2022 record for Mexico City, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Not on the record in Spain, Puerto Rico, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
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 South Australia record for 1944 to 2017: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Love
Most people given the name Love 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.
Where Love travels
Filipino American · A documented choice in Filipino American families.
Keep exploring
The Love deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Love 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 Love fits with your family’s names and surname.
Does Love fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Love to your family’s tree →