Palmer
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Meaning
occupational surname, "pilgrim, palm-bearer"
Famously borne by Palmer Luckey, co-founder of Oculus VR and Anduril Industries.
The story
Palmer once meant a pilgrim, and Romeo and Juliet find room for flirting inside that old word. The English surname behind the given name ultimately reaches Latin palma, "palm tree"; pilgrims to the Holy Land often brought palm fronds back as evidence of their journey. At the lovers’ first meeting in Shakespeare’s play, Romeo takes Juliet’s hand and compares his lips to pilgrims. Juliet answers by keeping the proposed kiss in their hands: touching palms, she says, is the kiss permitted to palmers. The pilgrim-and-saint exchange continues until Romeo kisses her. An old religious term has become a delicate negotiation about how close two people may come. Knowing what a palmer was lets the playfulness land: the journey in this little passage moves from palm to palm, then to a kiss.
How popular is Palmer around the world?
In the United States, 7,903 babies were named Palmer between 2020 and 2025.
Palmer is on the official records of the United States, Canada, England and Wales and Brazil.
United States
1 in 2,800
In the United States, 7,903 babies were named Palmer between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Palmer peaked in the 2020s. In US birth records, Palmer went mostly to boys before the 2010s and mostly to girls in every decade since.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Canada
1 in 7,500
In Canada, 37 girls named Palmer were born in 2024, the 794th most common name among girls that year.
In Canada, 12 boys named Palmer were born in 2024, ranked 1,698th 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)
England and Wales
1 in 16,000
In England and Wales, 20 girls named Palmer were born in 2025, ranked 1,512th among girls that year.
In England and Wales, 17 boys named Palmer were born in 2025, ranked 1,538th 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
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 59 people in Brazil were named Palmer, ranked 59,447th, with a median age of 35.
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
Scotland
last on record 2023
Palmer is not on the 2024 record for Scotland, where spellings under 3 in total are suppressed at source.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
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
South Australia
last on record 1975
Palmer is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
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
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Ireland, New Zealand 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.
When you meet Palmer
Most people given the name Palmer 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.
Keep exploring
Names like Palmer · Names of founders and builders · Gender-neutral names · Names that switched sides
The Palmer deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Palmer 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 Palmer fits with your family’s names and surname.
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