Hamlin
From an English surname meaning "homestead on a hill".
Name Census estimates that about 8 living Americans carry the first name Hamlin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hamlin today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hamlin births was 1916 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hamlin. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Hamlin is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hamlins were born before 1959.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Hamlin. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
8
~ 1 in 42,844,292 Americans
Peak year
1916
8 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1957 SSA rank
#4,218
Tracked since 1915
Census
Hamlin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 143 people with the first name Hamlin, which placed it at #46,519 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
#46,519
National first-name rank
People counted
143
143 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hamlin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hamlin is White at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.8%). 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 Hamlin 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 Hamlin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.8% · 87
- Black or African American16.1% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.8% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 12
- Two or more races2.8% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 3
Popularity
Hamlin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hamlin from the 1910s through to the 1950s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 25 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hamlin 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 Hamlin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hamlin
The name Hamlin has its origins in the Old English language, derived from the words "ham" meaning a homestead or village, and "linn" meaning a pool or stream. It was originally a surname referring to someone who lived near a pool or stream in a village or hamlet.
In the early medieval period, the name was common in various parts of England, particularly in areas with Anglo-Saxon influence. Some of the earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the 11th and 12th centuries in various charters and records from that era.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Hamlin was Hamlin Plantagenet, a 12th-century English nobleman who was a descendant of the House of Plantagenet, a royal dynasty that ruled England from the 12th to the 15th centuries. He lived from around 1140 to 1202.
Another notable figure with the name Hamlin was Hamlin Garland, an American novelist, poet, and essayist who was born in 1860 and died in 1940. He was a leading figure in the literary movement known as Realism, and his works often depicted the harsh realities of life on the American frontier.
In the field of music, one of the most famous individuals with the name Hamlin was Hamlin Williams Jr., an American jazz pianist and composer born in 1915 and who passed away in 1992. He was a highly respected figure in the bebop and hard bop movements, and is best known for his compositions such as "Hamlin's Mamma Lullaby."
The name Hamlin also has literary connections, with Hamlin Garland, an American novelist and poet born in 1860 and died in 1940, being a prominent figure. His works often depicted the harsh realities of life on the American frontier and were part of the Realism movement in literature.
Lastly, in the world of sports, Hamlin Roach was an American baseball player who played in the Major League Baseball from 1913 to 1920. Born in 1892 and passing away in 1969, he played for several teams including the St. Louis Browns and the Boston Red Sox, and was known for his skills as a pitcher.
People
Hamlin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hamlin 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
Hamlin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hamlin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hamlin 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 42,844,292 US residents.
Is Hamlin a common name?
We classify Hamlin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 24.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 63 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hamlin most popular?
The single biggest year for Hamlin was 1916, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hamlin is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hamlin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 143 people with the name Hamlin, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,519 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 Hamlin 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 Hamlin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hamlin leans strongly male. 129 people counted with this name were male (93.5%), compared with 9 female bearers (6.5%). 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 Hamlin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hamlin is White at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.8%). 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 Hamlin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hamlin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.8% (87 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 Hamlin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hamlin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hamlin 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 Hamlin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hamlin 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 Hamlin 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 Hamlin as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Hamlin, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.