Hadrian
A masculine name of Latin origin meaning "from Hadria" (an ancient town).
Name Census estimates that about 770 living Americans carry the first name Hadrian. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hadrian today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hadrian births was 2024 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hadrian. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
770
~ 1 in 445,136 Americans
Peak year
2024
45 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,835
Tracked since 1970
Popularity
Hadrian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hadrian from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 330 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Hadrian remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hadrian by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Hadrian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hadrians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Michigan recorded the most babies named Hadrian, while New York, Michigan, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hadrian
The name Hadrian originates from the Roman era, deriving from the Latin name Hadrianus. It is likely a Romanized form of the name Ατριος (Atrios) from Ancient Greek, meaning from the region of Adria or Hadria, a town located in northern Italy. The name became popular during the reign of the Roman emperor Publius Aelius Hadrianus, who ruled from 117 to 138 CE.
Hadrian was a renowned Roman emperor known for his extensive building projects, including the construction of Hadrian's Wall, a defensive fortification in northern Britain. He is also credited with the remarkable Pantheon in Rome. Hadrian's reign marked a period of relative peace and stability in the Roman Empire, known as the Pax Romana.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hadrian can be found in the writings of ancient Roman historians such as Cassius Dio and the Historia Augusta, which provide detailed accounts of the emperor's life and rule. The name also appears in various inscriptions and archaeological artifacts from the Roman period.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Hadrian. One of the most famous was Hadrian of Tyre, a Greek mathematician and philosopher who lived in the 8th century CE. He is known for his influential work in algebra and his contributions to the development of the decimal number system.
Another prominent figure was Hadrian IV, born Nicholas Breakspear (c. 1100-1159), who became the only English Pope in history. He played a significant role in the conflicts between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire during the 12th century.
In the field of art, Hadrian Vries (1599-1670) was a Dutch Golden Age painter known for his still-life paintings and genre scenes depicting everyday life in the Netherlands.
Hadrian Reland (1676-1718) was a Dutch cartographer and scholar who made important contributions to the study of ancient geography and cartography, particularly in his work on the geography of Palestine.
Lastly, Hadrian Saravia (c. 1531-1613) was a Dutch Protestant theologian and reformer who played a role in the development of Anglican theology and the ongoing debates surrounding the Reformation in Europe.
People
Hadrian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hadrian as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hadrian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hadrian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 770 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hadrian going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 445,136 US residents.
Is Hadrian a common name?
We classify Hadrian as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 779 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hadrian most popular?
The single biggest year for Hadrian was 2024, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hadrian is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Hadrian a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hadrian in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.