West is an English word and surname name that means simply "west", the "direction of the setting sun", and it carries all the frontier associations of the American West. It works as a name in its own right or as a short form of Weston and Westley. West has grown slowly from number 4,564 in 2000 to number 1,255 in 2025, its best rank to date, while the longer Weston is far more common.