Parker

Parker meaning

Parker is an international unisex name of English origin, used for both girls and boys.

Keeper of a park; an English occupational surname

Also used to mean: park keeper

Parker began as an English surname for a man who looked after a park. The Online Etymology Dictionary dates it to the mid-twelfth century and explains it as literally "the keeper of a park", from park in its older sense of an enclosed stretch of land kept as a hunting preserve, from Old French parc; the sense of a public garden came later, in the 1660s. In the US Parker is now used as a first name for both girls and boys. It is said PAAR-ker, and it fits easily with Indian surnames.

Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com) · entry Parker · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Online Etymology Dictionary, Parker · Online Etymology Dictionary, park

Famous namesakes

• Charlie Parker, American jazz saxophonist (surname)

Popularity abroad

• #102 United States, boys 2025 (down 5 from 97 in 2024)
  US Social Security Administration
• #175 England and Wales, boys 2025
  Office for National Statistics

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Related names

Also meaning nature

Also starting with Par-

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