Hank
A short form of the English name Henry, meaning "estate ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 14,909 living Americans carry the first name Hank. It sits at #425 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hank today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hank births was 2024 (739 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hank. 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 Hank with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
15K
~ 1 in 22,990 Americans
Peak year
2024
739 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#425
Tracked since 1908
Census
Hank in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,456 people with the first name Hank, which placed it at #2,142 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
#2,142
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
12,456 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hank
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hank is White at 82.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.8%) and Hispanic (4.7%). 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 Hank 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 Hank at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.9% · 10,330
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.8% · 599
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 584
- Two or more races3.5% · 436
- Black or African American2.8% · 347
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 160
Popularity
Hank: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hank from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 4,932 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Hank remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hank 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 Hank during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hanks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Hank, while Hawaii, Connecticut, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 273 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hank
The given name Hank originated as a diminutive or nickname for the German name Heinrich, which derived from the Old German name Haimirich. Haimirich combined the elements haim meaning "home" and ric meaning "power, ruler." The name essentially meant "ruler of the home" or "head of the household."
The name Heinrich dates back to the 8th century and was widespread among Germanic peoples. Over time, it evolved into various diminutive forms such as Heinz, Heino, and Hank. The shortened form Hank emerged as a familiar or affectionate version of the name, particularly in English-speaking regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hank can be found in the 13th-century German epic poem "Das Nibelungenlied," where a character named Hank is mentioned. Additionally, there are references to individuals named Hank in various medieval German chronicles and records.
Some notable historical figures with the name Hank include Hank Williams Sr. (1923-1953), an influential American singer-songwriter and pioneer of modern country music. Another famous bearer of the name was Hank Aaron (1934-2021), an American baseball player who broke Babe Ruth's long-standing home run record.
Other prominent individuals named Hank throughout history include Hank Greenberg (1911-1986), an American professional baseball player and one of the game's most celebrated Jewish athletes; Hank Snow (1914-1999), a Canadian-American country music singer and songwriter; and Hank Mobley (1930-1986), an American jazz tenor saxophonist and composer.
While the name Hank has its roots in German and medieval European history, it has become a popular and widely recognized name in various cultures, particularly in the United States, where it is often associated with a rugged, down-to-earth, and masculine image.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Hank
People
Hank + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hank 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
Hank: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hank?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14,909 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hank 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 22,990 US residents.
Is Hank a common name?
We classify Hank as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,204 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hank most popular?
The single biggest year for Hank was 2024, when 739 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hank is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hank in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,456 people with the name Hank, or 4.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,142 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 Hank 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 Hank?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hank appears almost entirely male. Of the 12,449 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Hank?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hank is White at 82.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.8%) and Hispanic (4.7%). 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 Hank most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hank in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.9% (10,330 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 Hank in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hank a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hank 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 Hank still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hank 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 Hank 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 Hank?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.