Henok
Hebrew masculine name meaning "dedicated to God" or "initiated one".
Name Census estimates that about 314 living Americans carry the first name Henok. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Henok today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Henok births was 2008 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Henok. 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 Henok with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
314
~ 1 in 1,091,574 Americans
Peak year
2008
18 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,108
Tracked since 1989
Census
Henok in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,064 people with the first name Henok, which placed it at #11,878 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
#11,878
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,064 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
97.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Henok
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Henok is Black at 97.9%. The next largest groups are White (1.3%) and Two or More Races (0.5%). 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 Henok 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 Henok at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American97.9% · 1,042
- White1.3% · 14
- Two or more races0.5% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 2
- Hispanic or Latino0.1% · 1
Popularity
Henok: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Henok from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 109 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Henok remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Henok 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 Henok during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Henoks live
Origin
Meaning and history of Henok
The name Henok originates from the Hebrew language and can be traced back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "Chanokh," which means "dedicated" or "initiated." The name is also closely related to the Semitic root word "Hanaak," meaning "to train" or "to dedicate."
One of the earliest and most significant references to the name Henok can be found in the Book of Genesis, which is part of the Hebrew Bible. It refers to Enoch, the seventh patriarch in the genealogy of Adam, who was known for his righteousness and close relationship with God. According to the biblical account, Enoch walked with God and was taken by God at the age of 365 years.
In the Ethiopic Book of Enoch, an ancient Jewish religious work ascribed to the biblical Enoch, the name Henok is mentioned extensively. This text, which dates back to the third century BCE, provides additional details about Enoch's life and teachings, portraying him as a wise and righteous figure who received divine revelations.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Henok or its variations. One of the earliest recorded examples is Henok of Würzburg, a German Jewish scholar who lived in the 13th century and wrote commentaries on the Bible and Jewish law.
Another famous bearer of the name was Henok Zilliacus (1737-1804), a Finnish clergyman and scholar who played a significant role in the development of the Finnish language and literature. He translated parts of the Bible into Finnish and published works on grammar and lexicography.
In the realm of literature, Henok Gullbransson (1872-1934) was a Swedish-Norwegian artist and caricaturist known for his satirical illustrations and political cartoons. His work often commented on social and political issues of his time.
Henok Kifle (1935-2011) was an Eritrean poet, playwright, and novelist who made significant contributions to Eritrean literature. His works explored themes of liberation, identity, and the struggles of the Eritrean people against colonial rule.
Henok Araya (born 1968) is an Eritrean-American long-distance runner who represented Eritrea in multiple Olympic Games and won several international marathons, including the Boston Marathon in 2005.
While the name Henok has its roots in ancient Hebrew and Semitic languages, it has transcended its origins and gained recognition across various cultures and regions throughout history, with notable individuals bearing this name in fields such as religion, literature, art, and athletics.
People
Henok + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Henok 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
Henok: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Henok?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 314 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Henok 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 1,091,574 US residents.
Is Henok a common name?
We classify Henok as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 318 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Henok most popular?
The single biggest year for Henok was 2008, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Henok is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Henok in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,064 people with the name Henok, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,878 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 Henok 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 Henok?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Henok appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,066 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Henok?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Henok is Black at 97.9%. The next largest groups are White (1.3%) and Two or More Races (0.5%). 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 Henok most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Henok in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.9% (1,042 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 Henok in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Henok a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Henok 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 Henok still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Henok 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 Henok 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 are called Henok?
You can see how many people share the name Henok on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.