Heather is a flower name, the hardy purple "heather" that covers the moors of Scotland, and it is one of the great British plant names alongside Holly and Ivy. It was a top 10 name in the United States in the 1970s, which is why so many mothers of today's babies are called Heather. The name ranked number 125 in 2000, left the top 1000 in 2017 and stands at number 1,264 in 2025.