Heinz
A masculine name of German origin translated as "estate ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 379 living Americans carry the first name Heinz. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Heinz today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Heinz births was 1928 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Heinz. 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
379
~ 1 in 904,365 Americans
Peak year
1928
34 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
2021 SSA rank
#12,813
Tracked since 1915
Census
Heinz in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,920 people with the first name Heinz, which placed it at #7,782 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
#7,782
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,920 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Heinz
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Heinz is White at 90.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.5%). 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 Heinz 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 Heinz at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.8% · 1,744
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 101
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 29
- Black or African American1.5% · 28
- Two or more races0.8% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Popularity
Heinz: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Heinz from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 136 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Heinz 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 Heinz during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Heinz' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Heinz
The given name Heinz has its origins in the German language. It is a short form of the Germanic name Hainanrich, which is derived from the elements "haim" meaning "home" and "ric" meaning "power" or "ruler." The name can be traced back to the Middle Ages in various regions of Germany.
Historically, the name Heinz has been associated with several notable figures. One of the earliest recorded instances is Heinz von Wolfratshausen, a German nobleman who lived in the 13th century. Another early figure was Heinz Kramer, a German architect and sculptor from the 15th century, known for his work on the Aachen Cathedral.
In the realm of literature and arts, Heinz Guderian, a German general during World War II, wrote influential works on armored warfare tactics. His birth and death years were 1888 and 1954, respectively. Heinz Rühmann, a renowned German actor and comedian, had a long career spanning from the 1920s to the 1990s, born in 1902 and passing away in 1994.
The name Heinz has also been associated with several influential thinkers and scientists. Heinz Hopf, a German mathematician born in 1894 and died in 1971, made significant contributions to topology and algebraic geometry. Heinz Lehmann, a German-Canadian psychiatrist born in 1911 and died in 1999, was a pioneer in the development of antipsychotic drugs.
Another notable figure with the name Heinz is Heinz Nordhoff, a German businessman who served as the chairman of Volkswagen from 1948 to 1968. He was instrumental in reviving the company after World War II and played a crucial role in the success of the Volkswagen Beetle. Nordhoff was born in 1899 and passed away in 1968.
While the name Heinz has German roots, it has been adopted and used in various cultures and regions around the world, often as a shortened form of other names or as a standalone given name. However, its rich history and significance can be traced back to its Germanic origins and the notable individuals who have borne this name throughout the centuries.
People
Heinz + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Heinz 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
Heinz: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Heinz?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 379 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Heinz 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 904,365 US residents.
Is Heinz a common name?
We classify Heinz as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 649 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Heinz most popular?
The single biggest year for Heinz was 1928, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Heinz is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Heinz in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,920 people with the name Heinz, or 0.64 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,782 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 Heinz 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 Heinz?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Heinz appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,920 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Heinz?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Heinz is White at 90.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.5%). 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 Heinz most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Heinz in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.8% (1,744 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 Heinz in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Heinz a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Heinz 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 Heinz still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Heinz 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 Heinz 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 Heinz?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.