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 [ 1 syll. lu-ke, luk-e ] The boy name Luke is also used as a girl name, but it is much more common for boys. Its pronunciation is LUWK KEY. Luke is used predominantly in the English language and its origin is Old Greek. Biblical name derived from the element 'leucos' which means bright, white. The first name is from the short form of Lucas (Latin), a Latinate of Loukas (Old Greek); the latter means 'man from Lucania' in reference to an ancient district of southern Italy. The first name was borne in the Bible by Luke the Evangelist, companion of Paul and author of the third gospel in the New Testament. The name was introduced by the Normans into England in the 12th century. The name Luke is used to a great extent; it has 29 variants that are used in both English and other languages. Variants of Luke used in English include Lucas (also used in Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Spanish), Lucian, Lucien (also used in French), Lucius (also used in German and French), and Luck. The pet form Lucky is another English variant. Foreign variants of Luke include Lluc (Catalan), Lluch (Catalan), Loek (Dutch), Loukas (Greek), Luc (French), Luca (Italian), Luce (French), Luchok (Russian), Lucio (Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish), Luka (Russian), Lukacs (Hungarian), Lukas (Czech, German, Irish, and Scandinavian), Lukash (Russian), Lukasha (Russian), Lukass (Latvian), Lukasz (Polish), Lukács (Hungarian), Lukás (Czech), Lukyan (Russian), Lusio (Zuni), Luuk (Dutch), Lùcas (Scottish), and Lúcás (Irish). See also the related form, Lucano (Italian). Luke is very popular as a baby name for boys, and it is also viewed as fairly trendy. The name's popularity has been growing since the 1940s. Its usage peaked modestly in 2005 with 0.471% of baby boys being given the name Luke. It ranked at #41 then. In 2008, its usage was 0.432% and its ranking #43, and it was the most popular among all boy names in its group. In 2008, 1.170% more boys were named Luke than the next most popular name, Lucas (Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish). Luke has mostly been a boy name in the past century. Baby names that sound like Luke include Lluc (Catalan), Luc (French), Lais, Lasse (Finnish and Scandinavian), Lauge (Scandinavian), Lech (Polish), Leks (Estonian), Les (Russian and English), Lewes (English), Lex (English and German), Lexi (English), Lexo (Slavic), Lige (English), Lise, Lluch (Catalan), Loek (Dutch), Luce (French), Luck (English), Luiz (Portuguese), and Lux (English). KEY: Pronunciation for Luke: L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; UW as in "two (T.UW)" ; K as in "key (K.IY)"   |
