Hermann
A German masculine name derived from the Germanic words "heri" (army) and "man" (man).
Name Census estimates that about 278 living Americans carry the first name Hermann. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hermann today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hermann births was 1916 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hermann. 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
278
~ 1 in 1,232,929 Americans
Peak year
1916
22 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,398
Tracked since 1880
Census
Hermann in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,211 people with the first name Hermann, which placed it at #10,828 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
#10,828
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,211 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hermann
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hermann is White at 62.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.4%) and Black (15.9%). 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 Hermann 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 Hermann at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.9% · 762
- Hispanic or Latino16.4% · 199
- Black or African American15.9% · 192
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 41
- Two or more races1.3% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Hermann: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hermann from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 144 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hermann 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 Hermann during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hermanns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hermann
The given name Hermann has its origins in the Germanic language family, with roots dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Old High German words "heri" meaning army and "man" meaning man, thus translating to "army man" or "warrior."
The name was particularly prevalent among Germanic tribes, such as the Franks, Saxons, and Goths, who inhabited regions of modern-day Germany, France, and the Low Countries. Its earliest recorded use can be traced back to the 9th century, appearing in various historical documents and records from the Carolingian era.
One of the earliest and most notable historical figures bearing this name was Hermann the German (also known as Arminius), a chieftain of the Cherusci tribe. In 9 AD, he led a coalition of Germanic tribes to a decisive victory over the Roman legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, marking a significant defeat for the Roman Empire's expansion into Germanic territories.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Hermann was widespread across the Holy Roman Empire and remained popular among the German nobility. One notable bearer was Hermann von Salza, the fourth Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, who played a crucial role in the Northern Crusades and the consolidation of the Order's power in Prussia during the 13th century.
In the Renaissance period, the name gained further prominence with figures like Hermann of Wied, the Prince-Archbishop of Cologne (1477-1552), who initially supported the Reformation but later returned to Catholicism. Another notable figure was Hermann Boerhaave (1668-1738), a Dutch botanist, humanist, and an influential pioneer of the modern academic hospital.
During the 19th century, the name remained popular in German-speaking regions, with individuals like Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894), a renowned German physicist and philosopher, making significant contributions to various fields of science and philosophy.
Other notable bearers of the name include Hermann Hesse (1877-1962), a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946; Hermann Göring (1893-1946), a prominent political and military leader in Nazi Germany; and Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922), a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, best known for developing the famous Rorschach inkblot test.
People
Hermann + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hermann 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
Hermann: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hermann?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 278 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hermann 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 1,232,929 US residents.
Is Hermann a common name?
We classify Hermann 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, 731 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hermann most popular?
The single biggest year for Hermann was 1916, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hermann 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 Hermann in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,211 people with the name Hermann, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,828 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 Hermann 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 Hermann?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hermann appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,207 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Hermann?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hermann is White at 62.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.4%) and Black (15.9%). 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 Hermann most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hermann in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.9% (762 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 Hermann in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hermann a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hermann 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 Hermann still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hermann 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 Hermann 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 Hermann?
Find out how many people share the name Hermann on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.