Hale
A masculine name of Old English origin meaning "hale" or "healthy".
Name Census estimates that about 747 living Americans carry the first name Hale. It is a predominantly male name (98.9% of registrations). The average person named Hale today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hale births was 1917 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hale. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Hale with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
747
~ 1 in 458,841 Americans
Peak year
1917
30 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,961
Tracked since 1892
Census
Hale in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,077 people with the first name Hale, which placed it at #11,755 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#11,755
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,077 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hale
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hale is White at 77.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.1%) and Black (5.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Hale described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Hale at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.7% · 837
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.1% · 77
- Black or African American5.1% · 55
- Two or more races4.9% · 53
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 44
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Hale
Hale leans heavily male at 98.9% of total registrations, but 14 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Hale as a male name
- Ranked #6,961 in 2024
- 12 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1917 (30 births)
Hale as a female name
- Ranked #16,187 in 2007
- 6 female births in 2007
- Peak: 1998 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hale on both sides of the split. Of the 1,072 people counted with this name, 793 were male (74.0%) and 279 were female (26.0%).
Popularity
Hale: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hale from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 214 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Hale remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hale 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 Hale during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hales live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hale
The name Hale has its roots in the Old English language, dating back to the 5th to 11th centuries. It is derived from the word "halu," which means "wholesome" or "healthy." The name was initially used to describe a person's physical or mental well-being.
During the Anglo-Saxon period, the name Hale was primarily used as a descriptive name or a nickname. It was given to individuals who appeared to be in good health or had a strong, robust physique. As the use of surnames became more common, some families adopted Hale as their surname, indicating their strong and healthy lineage.
In medieval times, the name Hale was occasionally found in historical records and literature. One notable example is Hale the Huntsman, a character mentioned in the late 14th-century poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." This work is part of the Arthurian legend and depicts Hale as a skilled hunter in the service of King Arthur.
The earliest recorded use of Hale as a given name dates back to the late 16th century. One of the first documented individuals with this name was Hale Worthington, an English nobleman born in 1590. Worthington was known for his involvement in the English Civil War and his support for the Parliamentarian cause.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Hale. Here are five examples:
1. Hale Woodruff (1900-1980), an American artist and educator known for his contributions to the Harlem Renaissance.
2. Hale Boggs (1914-1972), an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. Representative and House Majority Leader.
3. Hale Smith (1925-2009), an American actor best known for his role as Reverend Isiah Thurman on the television series "The Waltons."
4. Hale Irwin (born 1945), a professional golfer from the United States who has won multiple major championships, including three U.S. Opens.
5. Hale Appleman (born 1986), an American actor and singer known for his roles in television series like "The Magicians" and "Dickinson."
While the name Hale was initially used to describe physical attributes, it has evolved over time to become a given name with a rich history and cultural significance, particularly in English-speaking countries.
People
Hale + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hale 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
Hale: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hale?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 747 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hale 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 458,841 US residents.
Is Hale a common name?
We classify Hale as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,283 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hale most popular?
The single biggest year for Hale was 1917, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hale is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hale in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,077 people with the name Hale, or 0.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,755 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Hale in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Hale?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hale on both sides of the split. Of the 1,072 people counted with this name, 793 were male (74.0%) and 279 were female (26.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Hale?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hale is White at 77.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.1%) and Black (5.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Hale most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hale in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.7% (837 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Hale in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hale a male name?
Yes, 98.9% of people registered as Hale 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.
Is Hale still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hale in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Hale can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people have the name Hale?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.