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Home › Baby Names Directory › Winthrop

Winthrop

♂ Boy

How to Pronounce Winthrop

Pronounced WIN-thrup /ˈwɪn.θrəp/Medium

Meaning: Winthrop is an English surname and place name, from Old English elements meaning roughly 'Wine's (or a friend's) outlying farm/village' - with 'throp' the old word for a hamlet. As a first name it carries strong New England associations through the Puritan leader John Winthrop.Low

In 30 seconds: Winthrop is an English place-and-surname name, 'friend's farmstead,' said WIN-thrup, a patrician New England name tied to Puritan governor John Winthrop.
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Origin MediumEnglish
MeaningWinthrop is an English surname and place name, from Old English elements meaning roughly 'Wine's (or a friend's) outlying farm/village' - with 'throp' the old word for a hamlet. As a first name it carries strong New England associations through the Puritan leader John Winthrop.
U.S. rank (2023)#12163 ↗ Rising
2023 U.S. births6 boys (0.00% of U.S. boys)
Peak year1915
Total births (all-time)≈ 1,178

Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data

peak 191518832023

U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.

SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.

History & Origin

Winthrop comes from an English place name built on Old English roots - a personal name plus throp, 'hamlet, outlying farm' - that became a surname and then a given name. In America it rings with New England history through John Winthrop, first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

As a first name Winthrop stayed rare and rather patrician, used from the late nineteenth century onward and cresting around the nineteen-teens, reaching only a few dozen boys in its best year. It reads as dignified, old-money, and unmistakably Yankee.

Did you know? Winthrop's early-twentieth-century use echoes New England pride in John Winthrop, the Puritan governor who imagined the colony as a 'city upon a hill.'
Overall data confidence 55%
SSA national given-name data — arc 1883-2023, peak 1915Oxford Dictionary of Family Names - Winthrop — place-name etymology

Variations

Winthrope

Nicknames

WinWintThrop

Famous Bearers

  • ★John Winthrop (1588-1649)
    Puritan leader and first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

If you like Winthrop…

Winston— a same-feeling patrician Win- name
Waldo— another old New England boy name
Thorne— shares the crisp English surname sound
Prescott— a comparable Yankee surname-name

Explore names like Winthrop

By themeenglishsurname-name

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Frequently Asked

What does the name Winthrop mean?

Winthrop is an English place and surname name meaning roughly 'friend's farmstead' or 'Wine's village,' from Old English.

How do you pronounce Winthrop?

It's said WIN-thrup /ˈwɪn.θrəp/ — two syllables, stress on the first.

Is Winthrop a boy or girl name?

Winthrop is used as a boy's name.

How popular is Winthrop?

Winthrop was always rare, given to only a few dozen boys a year at its early-twentieth-century peak, and it reads as a patrician New England name.

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