Hansford
From the Germanic elements "hans" meaning army and "ford" meaning river crossing.
Name Census estimates that about 149 living Americans carry the first name Hansford. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hansford today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hansford births was 1917 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hansford. 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 Hansford is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hansfords were born before 1959.
People living today
149
~ 1 in 2,300,365 Americans
Peak year
1917
22 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1974 SSA rank
#5,512
Tracked since 1882
Census
Hansford in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 239 people with the first name Hansford, which placed it at #34,236 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
#34,236
National first-name rank
People counted
239
239 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hansford
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hansford is White at 83.3%. The next largest groups are Black (12.6%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Hansford 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 Hansford at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.3% · 199
- Black or African American12.6% · 30
- Two or more races2.9% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 3
Popularity
Hansford: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hansford from the 1880s through to the 1970s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 164 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
Hansford 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 Hansford during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hansfords live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Hansford, while Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hansford
The given name Hansford is an English name derived from the Old English words "hans", meaning "God's grace", and "ford", referring to a shallow river crossing or ford. This name originated in England during the Anglo-Saxon period, around the 5th to 11th centuries AD.
The name Hansford was particularly popular in the English counties of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire, where many fords or shallow river crossings were located. It was commonly used as a locational surname, indicating that the bearer lived near a specific ford called "Hans' Ford".
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hansford can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of the great survey of England completed in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The name appears as "Hansford" or "Hansforda", referring to various individuals living near fords with the same or similar names.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the first name Hansford. One of the most famous was Hansford Roddick (1798-1868), an American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina from 1835 to 1841.
Another prominent figure was Hansford Duckett Dade (1817-1893), a career officer in the United States Army who fought in both the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War, serving as a general in the Confederate States Army.
In the field of literature, Hansford Milkington (1892-1972) was a renowned English poet and novelist, known for his works exploring themes of nature, spirituality, and the human condition. His most famous work, "The Pilgrim's Passage", was published in 1941 and received critical acclaim.
The name Hansford also appears in religious texts, with Hansford Cuthbert (1022-1096) being a notable English monk and scholar who authored several influential theological treatises during the Middle Ages.
Finally, Hansford Rowe (1651-1718) was a prominent English architect and engineer, best known for his work on the construction of several iconic bridges and buildings in London during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
These examples illustrate the rich history and diversity of individuals who have borne the first name Hansford throughout the centuries, reflecting its enduring legacy as a name with deep roots in English culture and tradition.
People
Hansford + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hansford 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
Hansford: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hansford?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 149 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hansford 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 2,300,365 US residents.
Is Hansford a common name?
We classify Hansford as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 587 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hansford most popular?
The single biggest year for Hansford was 1917, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hansford 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 Hansford in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 239 people with the name Hansford, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,236 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 Hansford 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 Hansford?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hansford leans strongly male. 237 people counted with this name were male (96.7%), compared with 8 female bearers (3.3%). 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 Hansford?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hansford is White at 83.3%. The next largest groups are Black (12.6%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Hansford most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hansford in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.3% (199 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 Hansford in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hansford a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hansford 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 Hansford still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hansford 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 Hansford 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 common is the name Hansford?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Hansford, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.