Hernandez
Of Spanish origin meaning "son of Hernando", a masculine given name.
Name Census estimates that about 106 living Americans carry the first name Hernandez. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hernandez today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hernandez births was 1984 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hernandez. 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
106
~ 1 in 3,233,531 Americans
Peak year
1984
11 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,761
Tracked since 1956
Census
Hernandez in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,128 people with the first name Hernandez, which placed it at #11,389 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
#11,389
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,128 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
81.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hernandez
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hernandez is Hispanic at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Black (10.6%) and White (6.1%). 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 Hernandez 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 Hernandez at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino81.3% · 917
- Black or African American10.6% · 120
- White6.1% · 69
- Two or more races0.9% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 3
Popularity
Hernandez: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hernandez from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 48 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hernandez 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 Hernandez 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 Hernandez
The name Hernandez is a Spanish surname that originated as a patronymic, meaning "son of Hernando". Hernando itself is derived from the Germanic name Ferdinand, which comes from the root words "fardi" meaning "journey" and "nanth" meaning "daring".
The name Ferdinand was introduced to Spain during the Visigothic period, which lasted from the 5th to the 8th century AD. It gained popularity in the region due to the famous Visigothic king Ferdinand I of León and Castile, who reigned from 1035 to 1065 AD.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hernandez can be found in the medieval Spanish epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid", which was composed around the 12th century. The poem mentions a character named Hernando, who was a knight in the service of the legendary hero El Cid.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Hernandez. One of the most famous was Hernando Cortés (1485-1547), the Spanish conquistador who led the conquest of the Aztec Empire in present-day Mexico. Another prominent figure was Hernando de Soto (c. 1496-1542), a Spanish explorer and conquistador who is best known for his expedition to the present-day United States, where he discovered the Mississippi River.
In the field of art, Hernando de Escobar (c. 1618-1668) was a Spanish painter known for his religious works and portraits. In literature, Hernando de Acuña (c. 1520-1580) was a Spanish poet and soldier who served in the Spanish army during the Italian Wars.
Finally, Hernando Colón (1488-1539) was the illegitimate son of the famous explorer Christopher Columbus. He was a bibliophile and amassed one of the largest private libraries of the Renaissance era, which included over 15,000 books.
People
Hernandez + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hernandez 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
Hernandez: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hernandez?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 106 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hernandez 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 3,233,531 US residents.
Is Hernandez a common name?
We classify Hernandez as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 114 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hernandez most popular?
The single biggest year for Hernandez was 1984, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hernandez is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hernandez in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,128 people with the name Hernandez, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,389 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 Hernandez 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 Hernandez?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hernandez on both sides of the split. Of the 1,128 people counted with this name, 812 were male (72.0%) and 316 were female (28.0%). 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 Hernandez?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hernandez is Hispanic at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Black (10.6%) and White (6.1%). 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 Hernandez most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Hernandez in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.3% (917 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 Hernandez in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hernandez a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hernandez 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 Hernandez still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hernandez 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 Hernandez 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 Hernandez?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Hernandez on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.