Meaning and history
Heather comes from the English word for the small pink- or white-flowered shrubs that often grow in rocky places, and it derives from Middle English hather. It was first used as a given name in the late 19th century but did not become popular until the second half of the 20th century.
20062006: 974 births, rank #339
2007: 799 births, rank #408
2008: 654 births, rank #483
2009: 555 births, rank #548
2010: 421 births, rank #681
20112011: 391 births, rank #710
2012: 330 births, rank #811
2013: 316 births, rank #835
2014: 331 births, rank #836
2015: 281 births, rank #964
20162016: 275 births, rank #975
2017: 223 births, rank #1,124
2018: 211 births, rank #1,150
2019: 162 births, rank #1,383
2020: 151 births, rank #1,442
20212021: 173 births, rank #1,304
2022: 181 births, rank #1,304
2023: 171 births, rank #1,324
2024: 170 births, rank #1,341
20252025: 177 births, rank #1,261
Heather moved from #965 to #977 for girls between 2015 and 2016. Its highest annual birth count came in 1975, with 24,301 births.