True - Name Meaning and Popularity -

Meaning of True

True, pronounced “troo” (/truː/), derives from the Old English trēowe, an adjective meaning “faithful, trustworthy, consistent with fact,” and entered given-name use through the Anglo-American corpus of Puritan virtue names in which moral ideals were transferred directly to children’s identities. Although historically attested for both sexes, its contemporary use is firmly unisex, appearing in United States birth records every year since the Social Security Administration began modern tallies; while never common, it has maintained a quiet presence, rising from 845th in 2017 to 697th in 2024 after several high-profile celebrity choices brought renewed public attention. The name’s semantic transparency invites associations with integrity, candor, and reliability, qualities that many parents regard as aspirational touchstones in an era preoccupied with authenticity. Because it functions as an unaltered English vocabulary word, True also aligns with current minimalist naming trends that favor brevity, phonetic clarity, and gender neutrality.