Hansel
A German diminutive of Johannes, meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 2,468 living Americans carry the first name Hansel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hansel today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hansel births was 2021 (134 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hansel. 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 Hansel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 138,879 Americans
Peak year
2021
134 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,661
Tracked since 1905
Census
Hansel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,482 people with the first name Hansel, which placed it at #6,461 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
#6,461
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,482 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
59.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hansel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hansel is Hispanic at 59.8%. The next largest groups are White (20.6%) and Black (10.2%). 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 Hansel 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 Hansel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino59.8% · 1,484
- White20.6% · 511
- Black or African American10.2% · 254
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.4% · 183
- Two or more races1.7% · 42
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Hansel
Out of the 3,534 babies given the name Hansel since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Hansel as a male name
- Ranked #1,661 in 2024
- 101 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (134 births)
Hansel as a female name
- Ranked #5,446 in 1921
- 5 female births in 1921
- Peak: 1921 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hansel leans strongly male. 2,449 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 37 female bearers (1.5%).
Popularity
Hansel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hansel 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 684 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Hansel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hansel 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 Hansel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hansels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Hansel, while Washington, Oklahoma, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 57 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hansel
The name Hansel is a diminutive form of the Germanic name Hans, which is a short form of the name Johannes, the German variation of the Hebrew name Yohanan. Yohanan stems from the Hebrew phrase "Yahweh is gracious" or "God is merciful." The name Hansel gained popularity during the Middle Ages in regions where Germanic languages were spoken, particularly in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.
Hansel is closely associated with the famous fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel," which was published in the 19th century by the Brothers Grimm. The story is believed to have originated from oral folk tales that circulated in Europe during the medieval period. While Hansel is not a name found in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its roots can be traced back to the Hebrew name Yohanan, which appears in the Bible.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hansel was in the 13th century, when Hansel von Eberstein, a German knight and military leader, was mentioned in historical records. Another notable figure was Hansel Schmitthenner, a German painter and printmaker who lived in the 16th century.
Throughout history, several individuals with the first name Hansel have made their mark in various fields. One such individual was Hansel Curry (1923-1994), an American mathematician and logician who made significant contributions to the field of combinatory logic. Hansel Mieth (1909-1998), a German-American sculptor and painter, was known for her abstract expressionist works.
Hansel Oppenheimer (1899-1945) was a German chemist and physicist who worked on the development of nuclear weapons during World War II. Hansel von Hohenhausen (1339-1404) was a German nobleman and knight who served as a military commander and diplomat during the 14th century.
While the name Hansel has Germanic roots and was particularly prevalent in Central Europe, it has gained popularity in other parts of the world due to its association with the beloved fairy tale. However, its usage as a first name has declined in recent decades, with many parents opting for more modern or unique names.
People
Hansel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hansel 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
Hansel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hansel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,468 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hansel 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 138,879 US residents.
Is Hansel a common name?
We classify Hansel as "Rare". It ranks above 94.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,534 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hansel most popular?
The single biggest year for Hansel was 2021, when 134 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hansel is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hansel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,482 people with the name Hansel, or 0.82 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,461 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 Hansel 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 Hansel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hansel leans strongly male. 2,449 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 37 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Hansel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hansel is Hispanic at 59.8%. The next largest groups are White (20.6%) and Black (10.2%). 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 Hansel most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Hansel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.8% (1,484 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 Hansel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hansel a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Hansel 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 Hansel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hansel 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 Hansel 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 Hansel?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Hansel on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.