| Hope | Fern | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | hope | The fern plant |
| Origin | english | English |
| Gender | Girl | Girl |
| Pronunciation | HOHP | FURN |
| Syllables | 1 | 1 |
| First appeared | 1880 | 1880 |
| Peak year | 2000 (2,321) | 1918 (1,341) |
| In 2025 | 868 | 186 |
| Trend | Steady | Rising |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Hope | Fern |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 6,849 | 953 |
| 2010s | 13,760 | 717 |
| 2000s | 18,690 | 167 |
| 1990s | 14,307 | 97 |
| 1980s | 7,624 | 174 |
| 1970s | 11,013 | 299 |
| 1960s | 8,733 | 985 |
| 1950s | 5,008 | 2,213 |
| 1940s | 3,009 | 2,803 |
| 1930s | 2,086 | 4,570 |
| 1920s | 3,376 | 10,254 |
| 1910s | 1,920 | 9,250 |
| 1900s | 429 | 2,813 |
| 1890s | 293 | 1,937 |
| 1880s | 128 | 434 |
A direct English virtue name taken from the ordinary word 'hope', one of the trio of Christian virtue names (Faith, Hope, Charity) that came into use among Puritans in the 16th-17th centuries. The vocabulary word descends from Old English 'hopa'.
Fern is an English nature name from the green woodland plant.
Hope is more popular than Fern today: about 868 US babies were given the name Hope in 2025, compared with 186 named Fern.
Hope means hope (english origin), while Fern means The fern plant (English origin).
In US records, Hope first appears in 1880 and Fern in 1880, so Hope has the longer recorded history.