Fern is an English plant name that comes from the Old English fearn and simply means "fern", the feathery green plant of shady woods. It was a popular name around 1900 and is beloved by generations of readers as Fern Arable, the girl who saves Wilbur in E. B. White's Charlotte's Web. After decades of rest Fern has risen from number 2200 in 2015 to number 1220 in 2025, its best rank in this century.