Hawken
From English origin derived from "hawk hawk", meaning a keen-sighted person.
Name Census estimates that about 276 living Americans carry the first name Hawken. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hawken today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hawken births was 2017 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hawken. 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
276
~ 1 in 1,241,864 Americans
Peak year
2017
23 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,931
Tracked since 1994
Census
Hawken in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 244 people with the first name Hawken, which placed it at #33,765 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
#33,765
National first-name rank
People counted
244
244 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hawken
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hawken is White at 86.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.8%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Hawken 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 Hawken at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.1% · 210
- Two or more races7.8% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Popularity
Hawken: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hawken from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 170 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hawken 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 Hawken 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 Hawken
The name Hawken is believed to have originated from the Old English language, dating back to the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain. It is thought to be a variant or diminutive form of the name "Hawk," which was derived from the Old English word "hafoc," meaning a hawk or falcon.
This name likely gained popularity due to the symbolic association of hawks with keen eyesight, strength, and agility. In medieval times, falconry was a popular pastime among the nobility, and names related to birds of prey held cultural significance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hawken can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners and property in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. Here, the name appears as "Hauoc" or "Hauec," suggesting its use in the late 11th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Hawken. One of the earliest was Hawken of Loxbeare (c. 1340-1420), an English archer and soldier who fought in the Hundred Years' War. His skill with the longbow earned him recognition and a place in chronicles of the time.
Another prominent figure was Hawken Browne (c. 1535-1605), an English churchman and academic who served as the President of Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1590 until his death. He was known for his contributions to religious and scholarly debates during the Elizabethan era.
In the 18th century, Hawken Upton (1723-1798) was a celebrated English architect and surveyor. He designed several notable buildings, including the Shire Hall in Monmouth and the Ledbury Park estate in Herefordshire.
The name also has a connection to the American frontier. Samuel Hawken (c. 1792-1884) was a renowned American gunsmith known for his iconic Hawken rifle, which became a symbol of the westward expansion and the Rocky Mountain fur trade in the early 19th century.
Another notable bearer of the name was Hawken King (1828-1906), an Australian explorer and surveyor who played a crucial role in mapping the interior of Western Australia and the Nullarbor Plain region in the mid-19th century.
While the name Hawken has maintained a presence throughout history, its usage has been relatively uncommon compared to more popular names. Nevertheless, its connection to the natural world, particularly the symbolism of hawks, and its historical associations have contributed to its enduring legacy and cultural significance.
People
Hawken + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hawken 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
Hawken: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hawken?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 276 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hawken 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 1,241,864 US residents.
Is Hawken a common name?
We classify Hawken as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 279 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hawken most popular?
The single biggest year for Hawken was 2017, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hawken is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hawken in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 244 people with the name Hawken, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,765 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 Hawken 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 Hawken?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hawken leans strongly male. 243 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 3 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Hawken?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hawken is White at 86.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.8%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Hawken most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hawken in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.1% (210 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 Hawken in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hawken a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hawken 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 Hawken still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hawken 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 Hawken 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 share the name Hawken?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.