Hartford
Named for the deer crossing on the river bank.
Name Census estimates that about 211 living Americans carry the first name Hartford. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Hartford today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hartford births was 2022 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hartford. 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.
People living today
211
~ 1 in 1,624,428 Americans
Peak year
2022
23 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,023
Tracked since 1890
Census
Hartford in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 194 people with the first name Hartford, which placed it at #39,126 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
#39,126
National first-name rank
People counted
194
194 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hartford
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hartford is White at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Black (27.3%) and Two or More Races (6.2%). 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 Hartford 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 Hartford at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.3% · 115
- Black or African American27.3% · 53
- Two or more races6.2% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.6% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Hartford
Hartford leans heavily male at 89.3% of total registrations, but 53 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Hartford as a male name
- Ranked #10,232 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1924 (20 births)
Hartford as a female name
- Ranked #7,023 in 2024
- 16 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hartford appears almost entirely male. Of the 189 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Hartford: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hartford from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 119 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Hartford remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hartford 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 Hartford 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 Hartford
The name Hartford is believed to have originated from the Old English words "heort" and "ford," which together mean "a deer crossing." This suggests that the name may have been associated with a particular location where deer commonly crossed a river or stream. The earliest recorded use of the name Hartford dates back to the 9th century, when it was used to refer to a settlement in what is now the county of Hartford in England.
In the Domesday Book, a survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086, the name Hartford appears as a reference to several villages and towns across the country. This indicates that the name had already gained widespread use by the late 11th century.
One of the most notable historical figures with the name Hartford was Sir John Hartford (c. 1330-1399), an English knight and member of Parliament during the reign of Edward III. He played a significant role in the Hundred Years' War against France and was renowned for his military prowess.
Another individual of note was Thomas Hartford (c. 1555-1625), an English theologian and clergyman who served as the Bishop of Norwich from 1619 until his death. He was known for his scholarly works and contributions to the Church of England.
In the realm of literature, Hartford Beaumont (1596-1668) was an English dramatist and poet who collaborated with John Fletcher on several popular plays during the Jacobean era. Their works, such as "The Knight of the Burning Pestle" and "Philaster," were celebrated for their wit and social commentary.
Moving to the New World, one of the earliest recorded uses of the name Hartford was for the settlement that would eventually become the city of Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1635 by Reverend Thomas Hooker and his congregation, the name was chosen to honor the town of Hertford in England, which was the birthplace of one of the settlers.
In the field of science, Hartford Gunn (1801-1881) was an American physician and philanthropist who made significant contributions to the study of ophthalmology. He was one of the founders of the Missouri Institute for the Education of the Blind and worked tirelessly to improve the lives of those with vision impairments.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Hartford, which has its roots in the language and geography of England but has also left its mark across various disciplines and locations around the world.
People
Hartford + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hartford 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
Hartford: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hartford?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 211 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hartford 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 1,624,428 US residents.
Is Hartford a common name?
We classify Hartford as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 495 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hartford most popular?
The single biggest year for Hartford was 2022, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hartford is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hartford in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 194 people with the name Hartford, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,126 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 Hartford 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 Hartford?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hartford appears almost entirely male. Of the 189 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Hartford?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hartford is White at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Black (27.3%) and Two or More Races (6.2%). 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 Hartford most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hartford in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.3% (115 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 Hartford in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hartford a male name?
Yes, 89.3% of people registered as Hartford 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 Hartford still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hartford 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 Hartford 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 Hartford?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.