Asher is a Hebrew name that appears in the Bible – it
's first seen in the Old Testament book of Genesis. In Hebrew, it's written as א
ָש
ֵׁר . The meaning of Asher comes from the Hebrew word osher, which means happiness.
Asher is consistently pronounced
"ah-shur." There are no alternative spellings of this name, but in the Biblical Latin and Greek, it's written Aser.
In the Bible, Asher was Jacob
's eighth son. His mother was Leah's servant, Zilpah. In Genesis 30:13, it reads
"Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. Then Leah said, 'How happy I am! The women will call me happy.' So she named him Asher." Asher became the father of the tribe of Asher, one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Asher has a non-religious meaning as well: It
's an Old English surname that means "one who lives by an ash tree or ash grove."
Some parents may love this name because it sounds like an updated version of Aiden, which peaked in popularity for baby boys in the U.S. in 2011. Asher also sounds like a modern version of the name Ashley, which had a long history as a masculine name before it became popular for girls.
You won't find the Asher on the top-10 list of boy baby names yet. However, it has quickly climbed the rankings over the last 20 years. In the year 2000, Asher was number 578 on the Social Security Administration
's list of popular boy names. By 2010, Asher hit number 138, and by 2015 it rose to spot 82. In the year 2020, Asher reached number 32 for boys' names in the United States. That
's quite the climb!
Interestingly, Asher has surged in popularity even faster among BabyCenter parents. (BabyCenter's ranking is based on data from hundreds of thousands of parents who share their baby
's name with us.)
Asher isn't just popular in the United States, it
's also gaining popularity in New Zealand. In 2020, it ranked 46 for boy's names.
Asher is traditionally a boy
's name, but it's increasing in popularity for girls as well. It
's not at all mainstream for baby girls yet: On the BabyCenter list, Asher is number 1,835 and in the Social Security Administration data, it's not in the top 1,000 names for girls. But the trend is heading upwards.
Asher Keddie, an Australian actress known for her roles in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Offspring, may be one factor behind Asher
's growing popularity as a girl's name.
Considering its happy meaning and pretty, vowel-heavy pronunciation, expect to see Asher heading up the charts for boys and girls in the coming years.
