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Baby Names:

Hunter

Meaning: Hunter

Origin: Old English

Alternate spellings: None

Hunter is another one of those names that is derived from an occupation. (Let’s hope the name Stockbroker doesn’t catch on.) In the Middle Ages, the name was typically used as a surname. The nobility class hunted boars from horseback; the lower castes snatched birds. Your little Hunter will stalk the noble fruit snack.

The name has had a choppy history on the charts. Most names have a fluid rise and fall between years, but Hunter started at #545 in 1880, dropped to #826 in 1881, rose to #623 in 1882, dropped to #841 the next year, and so on for the next several decades. It even dropped off the charts entirely in the mid-1930s. It was a continuous presence starting again in 1956 and has made a steady climb upward, reaching its peak in 2000 and slipping slowly since then. Hunter is part of the group of similarly styled names that are hot with parents today, including Sawyer, Cooper, and Wyatt.