Luke Name Meaning, Origin, Popularity, Boy Names Like Luke

Luke Name Origin: Greek
Pronunciation: loo(k)
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Luke Name Meaning

Luke is a name derived from the Greek Loukas, meaning “from Lucania.” He’s strong in sound, exuding a presence that can’t be ignored. He’s less formal than the longer Lucas but hardly feels like a nickname. Much like Liam, he stands his ground just fine on his own two feet and has nipped at his heels in popularity throughout history.

The name is popular among Christians, as Luke is a biblical name. Appearing in the New Testament with the Gospel of Luke, the name has strong ties to the religion and is often seen in Sunday school circles and play groups. Similarly, the name has a strong following among Star Wars fans as character Luke Skywalker has a commanding presence in the series. This usage gives him a hefty dose of action hero cool factor.

Luke has aged gracefully over the years, never seeming dated or trendy thanks to his slow climb and consistent popularity. He isn’t a name seen everywhere, yet he’s easily recognizable as a familiar favorite. He’s also short and to the point, avoiding the worry of silly or unwanted nicknames.

Those looking for variants of the name can explore longer versions like Lucas/Lukasor Luka/Luca. For similar names, try out Jack, Jude, or Paul.

Luke Name Popularity

How popular is the name Luke? Here’s everything we know.

Year	Rank	# Births	% Births
1910	288	37	0.0105%
1911	396	21	0.0056%
1912	448	39	0.0077%
1913	403	73	0.0129%
1914	379	117	0.0168%
1915	416	125	0.0138%
1916	411	140	0.0145%
1917	446	119	0.0119%
1918	459	125	0.0116%
1919	470	121	0.0116%
1920	491	116	0.0104%
1921	494	120	0.0105%
1922	449	150	0.0135%
1923	467	131	0.0117%
1924	440	154	0.0133%
1925	493	114	0.0101%
1926	482	122	0.0111%
1927	508	108	0.0098%
1928	505	110	0.0103%
1929	493	104	0.01%
1930	513	95	0.0091%
1931	486	99	0.01%
1932	436	129	0.0131%
1933	597	59	0.0063%
1934	565	74	0.0077%
1935	528	80	0.0082%
1936	550	72	0.0075%
1937	569	68	0.0069%
1938	538	80	0.0078%
1939	523	82	0.0081%
1940	554	76	0.0072%
1941	583	68	0.006%
1942	627	63	0.005%
1943	569	80	0.0061%
1944	582	71	0.0057%
1945	561	73	0.006%
1946	593	77	0.0052%
1947	532	119	0.0071%
1948	526	115	0.0072%
1949	526	119	0.0074%
1950	532	120	0.0075%
1951	526	124	0.0073%
1952	575	106	0.0061%
1953	583	107	0.006%
1954	538	138	0.0075%
1955	505	167	0.0091%
1956	479	204	0.0108%
1957	457	239	0.0124%
1958	426	298	0.0158%
1959	437	294	0.0155%
1960	387	375	0.0198%
1961	387	379	0.0201%
1962	398	371	0.0202%
1963	397	369	0.0206%
1964	378	396	0.0225%
1965	409	333	0.0204%
1966	413	296	0.019%
1967	419	289	0.019%
1968	403	331	0.022%
1969	373	404	0.0262%
1970	352	495	0.0311%
1971	349	482	0.0321%
1972	320	532	0.0391%
1973	285	602	0.0464%
1974	263	699	0.0538%
1975	256	748	0.0582%
1976	221	902	0.07%
1977	187	1,233	0.0915%
1978	137	1,889	0.1405%
1979	110	2,473	0.1754%
1980	97	3,109	0.2126%
1981	100	3,016	0.2052%
1982	118	2,473	0.1655%
1983	105	2,640	0.1789%
1984	110	2,472	0.1662%
1985	106	2,739	0.1805%
1986	106	2,646	0.1753%
1987	111	2,591	0.1698%
1988	119	2,617	0.1679%
1989	121	2,705	0.1676%
1990	118	2,871	0.1732%
1991	113	3,014	0.1849%
1992	93	4,064	0.2546%
1993	87	4,352	0.2791%
1994	91	4,090	0.2665%
1995	82	4,628	0.3071%
1996	75	5,016	0.335%
1997	78	4,952	0.3348%
1998	75	5,284	0.353%
1999	67	6,136	0.4097%
2000	59	7,142	0.4675%
2001	50	8,005	0.5313%
2002	46	8,692	0.58%
2003	46	9,299	0.6112%
2004	41	9,593	0.6294%
2005	41	10,004	0.6543%
2006	43	10,085	0.6441%
2007	46	9,603	0.6086%
2008	43	9,417	0.6093%
2009	47	8,616	0.5765%
2010	41	8,838	0.6133%
2011	39	8,701	0.6107%
2012	37	9,008	0.6321%
2013	34	9,568	0.672%
2014	28	10,503	0.7209%
2015	28	10,270	0.7058%
2016	29	9,974	0.6918%
2017	30	9,163	0.6565%
2018	29	8,577	0.6243%
2019	32	8,375	0.6187%
2020	31	7,637	0.6%
2021	32	7,660	0.6266%
2022	34	7,248	0.5494%

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Data via SSA.gov.

Names Like Luke

If you like Luke, you’ll love these other names like Luke.

What names are diminutives of Luke?

A diminutive is a name that’s like Luke sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Luke, but shorter.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Lou	Famous warrior	German
Louie	Famous warrior	German
Luck	From Lucanus	Greek
Lucky	Fortunate	Modern

What names are variants of Luke?

Mix it up with these names that are a variation of the name Luke.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Loukas	From Lucania	Greek
Luc	From Lucanus	Greek
Lucas	From Lucania	Latin
Luce	Light	Latin
Lucian	Light	Latin
Lucien	Light; from Lucanus	Latin
Lucio	Light; from Lucanus	Latin
Lucius	From Lucanus	Greek
Lukacs	From Lucanus	Greek
Lukacz

Lukan	From Lucania	Latin
Lukas	From Lucania	German
Luken	From Lucania	American

What names sound like Luke?

If you like how Luke sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Luke.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Juke	Dance Suggestively	American
Lucaster	A variant form of Lucius.
Luz	Light	Spanish

What names are similar to Luke?

Find a name that’s like Luke, but just a little bit different.

Name	Meaning	Origin
David	Beloved	Hebrew
Joel	Yahweh is God	Hebrew
John	God is gracious	Hebrew
Matthew	Gift of God	Hebrew
Michael	Who is Like God?	Hebrew
Noah	To rest	Hebrew
Paul	Small	Latin
Samuel	Name of God	Hebrew
Simon	He has heard	Hebrew

Thomas	Twin	Greek

Lists With Luke

Find inspiration in these baby boy name lists featuring the name Luke.

Siblings of Luke

Mamas with kids named Luke also have kids with these names.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Graceann
Anna	Gracious	Hebrew
Miah		Spanish
Izabella	Devoted to God	Italian
Caleb	Whole heart	Hebrew
Michael	Who is Like God?	Hebrew
Matthew	Gift of God	Hebrew
Destiny	Determined fate	English
James	Supplanter	English
Lily	Lily flower	English
Emila	Rival; laborious; eager	Latin
Christopher	Bearing Christ	English
Harper	Harp Player	English
Leia	Weary one	Hebrew

Jorge	Farmer	Spanish

Share Your Thoughts

45 Comments

Ana+Smith Sep 9 at 12:13 am

My husband and I went through lists of names and narrow it down to 10 or so we wanted something biblical and with a nice meaning so we ended with Luke

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Alyssa May 1 at 7:10 am

Mostly our nieces and nephew started calling him Bubba Luke when they found out we were having a baby. Once he was born, it was hard to imagine the other names on our list. We love the simplicity and Biblical ties. It also means light giving, which is so fitting for our family, and our desires to be God’s light in this world.

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Skylynn dell Apr 15 at 5:18 am

I think he could be mine boyfriend because I don’t have one yet so can he be my because he is hot I love u so much

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Ana Apr 9 at 10:23 am

I love the name Luke , we named him John Luke for the disciples of Jesus Christ and writers of our favorite books in the Bible.

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Jessica Feb 6 at 7:20 am

After his dad

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John Rafferty Jan 28 at 4:26 am

My grandson was named Luke & as a twin his sister was rightfully named Leia , starting with me & passing on to my son the joys of STAR WARS it was inevitable that he would choose theses names the moment he discovered they where having twins & they were a boy & a girl

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Jean Dec 8 at 4:43 am

Luke means “light giving”

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Tara Feb 23 at 2:27 pm

We chose the name Luke after the gospel of Luke in the Bible. We love the person of Luke in the Bible as He showed faithfulness and humility throughout.

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Gabrielle Jan 3 at 9:15 am

We had a list of bible names and this one was the safest for us for our first child because we didn’t know any Luke’s! Just a strong simple handsome name. The only thing i didnt consider was how much Star Wars is a thing in this country ? we are not even fans of the series but about 25% of the time we tell someone his name they name a star wars reference ? was not expecting that!

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Kelly Dec 1 at 7:08 am

We chose Luke because it’s a classic name, Biblical and it means light! Don’t like how people always make Star Wars references though.

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cara Jul 24 at 7:59 pm

I have a strong Marian devotion and Luke is a powerful gospel outlining many of her and Jesus’s mission. It is a strong name and simple to spell.

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Haley May 18 at 10:15 pm

We love that it means bearer of light. He will be a shining one in the darkness of the world drawing people to Jesus-the light of the world!

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Elicia May 16 at 12:35 pm

We had twins…we love Star Wars… stand alone the names are great
Luke means light, he lights up our world
The smiley baby is such a gift

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Abby May 11 at 10:09 am

We named our sweet baby boy Luke after his grand father.

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Nichole May 3 at 9:39 am

We’re big fans of modern family and really liked the name.

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MC Apr 22 at 11:06 am

We just liked the name! He is doing well and is starting to smile when he looks at us!

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Kelli Mar 21 at 8:33 am

We loved that it was a strong, classic name without being too common. Officially, his name is Lukas to go with the middle name Quay (family name) but we always call him Luke.

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Shawnae Nov 29 at 1:40 pm

From scripture

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Mama Samantha Adams Sep 22 at 4:59 am

I love the name Luke!!!!!

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Brianne Sep 4 at 10:08 am

Dad is a nerd and mom is a country girl at heart and both have a sense of humor. Luke comes from Luke Skywalker and country singers Luke Bryan and Luke Combs. Also mom has a brother nicknamed Beau (Bo) which gives us Uncle Bo and baby Luke, reminiscent of the old show Dukes of Hazard with Bo and Luke Duke. His middle name is Alan after mom’s favorite uncle (the fun one who let me drive his car at 14 and gave me my first beer lol). Lastly, this combination gives him the initials LAW, also fun!

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Emily Aug 23 at 8:39 am

My husband and I chose the name Luke because we love the Star Wars movies and we watched them a lot when we were together. I’ve always loved the name Luke. One downfall is that some people like to call him Lucas because they think Luke is short for Lucas when in fact his legal birth name is Luke, I have to correct people all the time.

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Elise Aug 9 at 11:42 am

Luke is our rainbow baby and his name means “Light bringer” so fitting for the light he has brought into our lives! We can’t wait to see the plans God has in store for him.

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Maria Apr 29 at 12:47 pm

It means light! And he brought our family joy and light!

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Luke Mar 19 at 7:18 am

My name is Luke and it is great knowing the deeper meaning of my name

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Lillian Feb 1 at 8:17 am

I chose the name Luke because of the meaning it means giver of Life.

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Kim Oct 4 at 8:29 pm

We wanted a short name, for some reason I don’t like when people shorten names.

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Kristen Jul 29 at 1:52 pm

We loved the name Luke, simple classic & strong.

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Cara Vought Jul 25 at 9:49 am

We chose Luke because it’s a Biblical name, everyone can pronounce it, and there aren’t any Lukes on either side of the family.

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Bukenya Mar 31 at 2:24 pm

Luke is one of the four gospels from the Bible (New Testament) I chose Luke because people with the name Luke always have good characters and Luke was a saint who wrote the book of Luke in the New Testament.

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Amber Feb 2 at 1:36 am

Luke is my middle child and he is just wonderful . He loves to play with other kids and enjoy going to church and Sunday school.

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M C Jan 18 at 7:42 am

Its a cute country sounding name

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Christa Jan 9 at 9:19 am

Luke means light, I love the idea of my boy bringing light to everyone wherever he goes. I believe when we speak baby’s name it’s what we are speaking over them. So we chose Luke and at only 10 days old he’s been a joy and light to our lives! Luke is also the male version of the name Lucy which was my grandmas name, so we did it also to honor her.

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Desiree Oct 30 at 10:47 am

We chose this name because my husband wanted an L name since he’s an N and our first son is an M so L M N and it’s biblical our other sons name is biblical also

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Corrine Oct 10 at 1:04 pm

We love the Christian ties to the name Luke and that it is also Irish

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Leah Sep 27 at 12:43 pm

It means light.

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Shannon Stephenson Aug 16 at 11:01 am

It was the one we finally agreed on! My husband and I both prefer more traditional names, but he didn’t care for the ones I was suggesting but he wasn’t adding to the list either. One day, I told him to pick from a shortened, ‘final’ list and he picked Luke. It was the one I had picked without telling him, so that was cool too. We both just had peace that it was the right name if we had a boy. Now, we both love our choice and we think it fits our son very well.

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KD Aug 11 at 1:24 pm

A good Christian name

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Catherine Southard Jul 26 at 1:16 pm

I chose my sons name because he was born on May 4th which is Star Wars day. So his name is from Star Wars of Luke Skywalker.

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Nolene Jul 13 at 12:39 pm

hi moms
so Luke’s first name is
Tarrador I initially fell in love with that name..
his grandfather picked the name Luke from the bible.
I love the name Luke as well….its from the bible …
Luke is my precious little boy..

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Jessica Jun 27 at 10:26 am

Biblical
Classic/ common
Easy to say/ Spell
Masculine
Goes well w/ our other children’s names

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Mary Jun 7 at 11:32 pm

I’ve always loved this name. It was placed on my heart ever since I found out we were having a boy. I appreciate that it’s a Biblical name meaning light giving. Luke was an important figure in the Bible, his telling of Easter is the one referenced too each year.

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Heidi Apr 23 at 2:45 pm

Luke, of love and light felt like a strong name to me and my husband. We had 3 or 4 names to choose from and waited to meet him until we chose a name. Once we met him we both agreed he was a Luke and to this day, his name suits him. He is a ray of sunshine!

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Michelle Apr 14 at 5:20 am

Meaning: Light. Strong sounding. Classic, readable and won’t go out of style. Cannot be made into a nickname. One syllable (to match a complicated last name.)

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Chelsea Apr 11 at 9:02 pm

We were looking for a strong, male name that could also suit a young boy. My husband liked Jack, but I wasn’t a huge fan. Then we thought of Luke. It’s a very strong name, suits both a boy and a man. I’ve never met a Luke I haven’t liked, and in fact, every Luke I can think of is…awesome. There’s Luke, the physician and disciple, from the Bible, which we loved, considering we wanted a biblical name. Plus, my husband is a huge Star Wars fan and actually considered making his middle name Skywalker, but I quickly stopped that idea before it got out of hand. We didn’t choose between Luke and Jack until we met him. We saw him, and he was Luke. We love the name even more now. I have no complaints, except THREE of my Facebook friends named their newborn sons Luke right after we had our Luke. I guess I can take it as a compliment to the awesome name I chose 🙂

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Diana Apr 11 at 12:23 pm

Luke means “light” and we wanted a name that reminded us of Gods Name “jehovah-Or” the God of Light. we’re hoping he will be a light colored boy too so the name suits his complexion too haha

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Luke