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Forest

What does Forest mean?

Forest Pronunciation of Forest as a boys' name is pronounced FOR-est. It is of Old French origin, and the meaning of Forest is "forest". Transferred use of the surname, originally a local name for someone who lived in the woods. Saint John Forest (16th century) was one of the numerous English priests who were martyred during the conflicts between King Henry VIII and the Pope. The character Forrest in Winston Groom's novel and the popular film "Forrest Gump" is named for hard-charging Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest (and early member of the Ku Klux Klan). See Deforest. Novelist E.M. Forster; actor/director Forrest Whittaker.

ENDS WITH -est

ASSOCIATED WITH surname, 16th century, priests (monk), king, novel (literary), popular (famous)

Variations

VARIANTS Forester, Forrest, Forrester, Forster, Foster

CREATIVE FORMS
(male)

(female)


MIDDLE NAME PAIRINGS
Forest Gavin (F.G.), ..

How popular is Forest?

Forest is a somewhat popular first name for males (#817 out of 1220, Top 67%) and an even more popular surname for both adults and children (#6270 out of 150436, Top 4%). (2000 U.S. DEMOGRAPHICS)

Forest reached its top rank of #256 in the U.S. during 1890-1899, and is currently at #973. (2018 U.S. SSA RECORDS)

Top 2000 baby names ranking of Forest name in U.S.

Top 100 baby names ranking of Forest outside U.S.

Which version is better?

Forrest (#571 FROM CURRENT RECORDS), Foster (#1073) and Deforest are the prominent alternative forms of Forest (#973) listed in the Top 2000. Usage of these forms of Forest was widespread among parents 128 years ago (ADOPTION OF 0.1%) and has become much lower since, with versions like Foster becoming somewhat dated.



Top 2000 baby names ranking of Forest, Deforest, Forrest, Foster in U.S.

Top 100 baby names ranking of Forest and related baby names outside U.S.

Similar Names

Recommended sound-alike names are Aoresty (see Orestes), Earnest, Ernest, Ernst, Everest, Fabert, Fareed, Fares, Faris, Faust, Ferenc, Feste, Firus, Florent, Florentz (see Florent), Florenz, Floris, Florus, Fons, Fonso, Forbes, Ford, Forde, Forden, Fordon, Forteny (see Fortney), Fortny (see Fortney), Foxe, Foxen, Frean, Fred, Fredd, Fredi, Fredo, Free, Freed, Freen, Frey, Frost, Hirst, Horst, Hurst, Joost, Koresh, Krist, Lorent and West. These names tend to be less frequently used than Forest.

See names
in meaning and etymology.


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