Hemi
A masculine Arabic name derived from the word "hima" meaning "sacred territory".
Name Census estimates that about 279 living Americans carry the first name Hemi. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 66.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Hemi today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hemi births was 2022 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hemi. 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 Hemi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
279
~ 1 in 1,228,510 Americans
Peak year
2022
22 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,926
Tracked since 2004
Census
Hemi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 331 people with the first name Hemi, which placed it at #27,567 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
#27,567
National first-name rank
People counted
331
331 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hemi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hemi is White at 51.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.9%) and Hispanic (15.1%). 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 Hemi 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 Hemi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.4% · 170
- Asian and Pacific Islander19.9% · 66
- Hispanic or Latino15.1% · 50
- Two or more races7.3% · 24
- Black or African American3.6% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Hemi
Hemi is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 281 total registrations, 186 (66.2%) were male and 95 (33.8%) were female.
Hemi as a male name
- Ranked #7,926 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (16 births)
Hemi as a female name
- Ranked #10,540 in 2024
- 9 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hemi on both sides of the split. Of the 322 people counted with this name, 156 were male (48.4%) and 166 were female (51.6%).
Popularity
Hemi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hemi from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 139 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Hemi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hemi 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 Hemi 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 Hemi
The name Hemi is derived from the Greek word "hemis," meaning "half." Its origins can be traced back to ancient Greek mythology and culture, where it was used as a prefix in various contexts.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Hemi is in reference to the Greek god Hemitheos, meaning "half-god." This deity was believed to be the personification of the concept of demigods, individuals who were thought to be part human and part divine.
In ancient Greek literature, the name Hemi was also used to describe various mythological creatures and concepts. For example, the term "hemicycle" referred to a semi-circular architectural structure, while "hemisphere" was used to denote half of a spherical object.
Throughout history, the name Hemi has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest examples is Hemi of Alexandria, a Greek astronomer and mathematician who lived in the 5th century AD. He is known for his work in calculating the circumference of the Earth and for developing methods to predict solar and lunar eclipses.
Another prominent figure was Hemi Baba, a 16th-century Sufi mystic and poet from Persia (modern-day Iran). He is renowned for his spiritual teachings and contributions to Persian literature.
In the realm of sports, Hemi Rzaza was a legendary Albanian weightlifter who competed in the 1980s. He won multiple Olympic gold medals and set numerous world records in his weight class.
The name Hemi also appears in the literary world. Hemi Kunzru is a British novelist and journalist of Indian descent, born in 1969. He is best known for his novels "The Impressionist" and "White Tears," which explore themes of identity and cultural displacement.
Finally, Hemi Siitonen is a Finnish singer-songwriter and musician who has gained popularity in the Finnish rock scene since the early 2000s. He is known for his powerful vocals and poetic lyrics.
These examples demonstrate the diverse cultural and historical contexts in which the name Hemi has been used, spanning various fields and regions across the globe.
People
Hemi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hemi 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
Hemi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hemi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 279 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hemi 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 1,228,510 US residents.
Is Hemi a common name?
We classify Hemi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 281 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hemi most popular?
The single biggest year for Hemi was 2022, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hemi is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hemi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 331 people with the name Hemi, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,567 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 Hemi 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 Hemi?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hemi on both sides of the split. Of the 322 people counted with this name, 156 were male (48.4%) and 166 were female (51.6%). 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 Hemi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hemi is White at 51.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.9%) and Hispanic (15.1%). 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 Hemi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hemi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.4% (170 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 Hemi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hemi a male name?
Yes, 66.2% of people registered as Hemi 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 Hemi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hemi 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 Hemi 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 Hemi?
Want to know how many people share the name Hemi? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.