Bud
About Bud
An upbeat and friendly nickname, Bud is more often reserved as a term of endearment, though it was once a Top 500 choice in the US and remained in the charts right up until the 60s. While long-form Buddy may feel more wearable, it does have the vintage yet energetic feel of Teddy, Kit, or Scout.
Now meaning "friend" or "companion", the terms "Bud" and "Buddy" likely emerged from children's mispronunciation of the word "brother". This form also coincides with the botanical word, used to the growths on plants that turn into a leaves or flowers, and as such, it is connected wit growth and promise too.
While short form Buddy made the England and Wales Top 7000 in a recent year, Bud has yet to appear in the stats as a stand-alone name, while in the US, nearly 30 boys were called Buddy and 13 were called Bud.
As of October 2026, Bud ranked #6870 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #233 in 1889.
Editor's take: The name Bud is a boy's name of English origin meaning "friend".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | — | 0 | 0 |
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Bud.
- Rich
- Jack
- Holly
- Watkins
- Barber
- Baldwin
- Skip
- Boe
- Kimberly
- Cleveland
- Dre
- Dwight
- Tuck
- Hazzard
- Dijon
- Adams
- Evans
- Montana
- Chaz
- Boise
Bud on lists
Famous Buds
- Bud Westmore
Hollywood make,up artist
- Bud Cort (born Walter Edward Cox)
American actor
- Alexander Leone Lally "Bud" Cook
Canadian ice hockey player
- Allan Huber "Bud" Selig
Commissioner of Major League Baseball
- Carlos "Bud" Ogden
American basketball player
- George Hamilton "Bud" Westmore
American makeup artist
- Harry Peter "Bud" Grant
American NFL football player and coach
- Leonard Miles "Bud" Osborne
American actor
- Norman Robert "Bud" Poile
Canadian ice hockey player
- William Alexander "Bud" Abbott
American actor/comedian of duo Abbot & Costello
Bud in pop culture
- Kenny "Bud
" character on "The Cosby Show"
- Bud
a character in the anime series "Saint Seiya"
- Bud Bundy
character on the TV series "Married with Children"
- Bud Roberts
character on the TV series "JAG"
- Bud Ricks
character on TV series "Flipper"
- James "Bud" Anderson
Jr., character on TV series "Father Knows Best"
- Larry "Bud" Melman
character on "The Late Show with David Letterman"
- "Bud
Not Buddy," children's novel by Christopher Paul Curtis
- Bud
nickname for Budweiser beer
- Bud Tucker Compson
character on animated series "Arthur"