Hamp
A masculine given name derived from Old English words meaning "homestead" or "village".
Name Census estimates that about 257 living Americans carry the first name Hamp. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hamp today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hamp births was 1920 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hamp. 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 Hamp is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hamps were born before 1961.
People living today
257
~ 1 in 1,333,674 Americans
Peak year
1920
27 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1996 SSA rank
#8,306
Tracked since 1880
Census
Hamp in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 246 people with the first name Hamp, which placed it at #33,566 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
#33,566
National first-name rank
People counted
246
246 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
66.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hamp
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hamp is Black at 66.3%. The next largest groups are White (27.6%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Hamp 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 Hamp at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American66.3% · 163
- White27.6% · 68
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 7
- Two or more races2.0% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 3
Popularity
Hamp: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hamp from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 179 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hamp 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 Hamp during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hamps live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Hamp, while Texas, South Carolina, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hamp
The name Hamp has its origins in the Anglo-Saxon language and is believed to have been derived from the Old English word "hama," which means "homestead" or "dwelling." It was a common name among the Anglo-Saxons during the early medieval period, particularly in England.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hamp can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears several times in this document, indicating its usage among the Anglo-Saxon population at the time.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Hamp. One of the earliest recorded was Hamp Syred, an English landowner and knight who lived in the 12th century. Another early example is Hamp de Massey, a 13th-century English nobleman and landowner from Cheshire.
During the Renaissance period, the name Hamp gained some prominence. Hamp Vaughan (1497-1536) was a Welsh courtier and diplomat who served under King Henry VIII. Hamp Clopton (1520-1588) was an English lawyer and Member of Parliament during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
In the 17th century, Hamp Downing (1604-1669) was an English politician and member of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War. Hamp Elletson (1636-1704) was an English clergyman and academic who served as the Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
The name Hamp continued to be used throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, although it became less common over time. Hamp Wyndham (1727-1789) was a British politician and Member of Parliament, while Hamp Cummings (1789-1857) was an American politician and lawyer from Kentucky.
Despite its rich historical roots, the name Hamp has become relatively uncommon in modern times, particularly in English-speaking countries. However, it remains a distinctive and evocative name with a strong connection to the Anglo-Saxon heritage and the early medieval period in England.
People
Hamp + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hamp 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
Hamp: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hamp?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 257 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hamp 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 1,333,674 US residents.
Is Hamp a common name?
We classify Hamp as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,076 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hamp most popular?
The single biggest year for Hamp was 1920, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hamp is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hamp in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 246 people with the name Hamp, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,566 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 Hamp 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 Hamp?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hamp appears almost entirely male. Of the 251 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Hamp?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hamp is Black at 66.3%. The next largest groups are White (27.6%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Hamp most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Hamp in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.3% (163 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 Hamp in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hamp a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hamp 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 Hamp still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hamp 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 Hamp 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 Americans are named Hamp?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.