Forest peaked in 2022, ranks #724, and has 17,433 SSA bearers. It's the nature-name spelling variant that reads more like the actual word, and its recent rise tracks precisely with the broader movement toward nature-connected names that feel genuine rather than ornamental.
The Word Itself as Name
Forest, like Forrest, comes from the Old French forest (wooded area outside the king's domain, preserved for hunting) — which itself came from Medieval Latin foresta. The distinction between Forest (one R) and Forrest (two R's) is primarily American and was codified by the film Forrest Gump in 1994, which fixed the double-R spelling in cultural memory as the cinematic version. Forest with one R reads more directly as the natural feature — a conscious choice by parents who want the landscape, not the movie character.
Nature Names and the Current Moment
The 2022 peak for Forest arrives in the middle of a sustained nature-name wave that has lifted River, Oak, Stone, and Grove into American baby naming. Forest sits within this trend as one of the more substantial options — it's a real ecosystem rather than a single plant or element, and it carries associations with depth, shelter, and mystery that more specific nature names don't offer. The cottagecore aesthetic, the pandemic-era longing for natural spaces, and a general movement away from purely invented names all feed Forest's current moment.
The Forrest Gump Shadow
The inevitable question: does Forrest Gump hang over this name? For Forest (one R), less than people expect. The spelling difference does meaningful work — parents who write Forest are consciously separating themselves from the movie reference. Tom Hanks' character is beloved, but not everyone wants their son's name immediately associated with a film from 1994. At six letters, Forest pairs beautifully with short surnames and siblings named River, Sage, or Stone.