Hernando
A masculine name of Spanish origin meaning "voyager, adventurer."
Name Census estimates that about 673 living Americans carry the first name Hernando. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hernando today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hernando births was 1967 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hernando. 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
673
~ 1 in 509,293 Americans
Peak year
1967
20 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,942
Tracked since 1916
Census
Hernando in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,856 people with the first name Hernando, which placed it at #5,821 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
#5,821
National first-name rank
People counted
2.9K
2,856 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
85.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hernando
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hernando is Hispanic at 85.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.4%) and Black (3.9%). 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 Hernando 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 Hernando at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino85.7% · 2,448
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.4% · 239
- Black or African American3.9% · 112
- White1.6% · 47
- Two or more races0.2% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 4
Popularity
Hernando: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hernando from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 145 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hernando 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 Hernando during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hernandos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Hernando, while Florida, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hernando
The name Hernando has its roots in the Spanish language and culture, originating during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Germanic name Ferdinand, which itself comes from the words "frīdu" meaning peace and "nanth" meaning courage or daring. The name was introduced to Spain by the Visigoths, a Germanic tribe that ruled the region from the 5th to the 8th century.
One of the earliest and most notable figures with the name Hernando was Hernando Cortés, the Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire in present-day Mexico. Cortés was born in 1485 in Medellín, Spain, and his conquest of the Aztecs between 1519 and 1521 paved the way for the eventual Spanish colonization of the Americas.
Another significant Hernando in history was Hernando de Soto, a Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States. De Soto was born in Extremadura, Spain, in 1496 and is credited with the first European sighting of the Mississippi River in 1541.
In the realm of literature, Hernando de Acuña was a Spanish poet and dramatist of the 16th century, best known for his contributions to the Spanish Golden Age theater. He was born in 1520 in Valladolid, Spain, and his works were highly acclaimed during his lifetime.
Moving to the world of music, Hernando Cortez was a renowned Venezuelan composer, conductor, and violinist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was born in 1853 in Caracas and is considered one of the most influential figures in the development of Venezuelan classical music.
Lastly, Hernando de Grijalva was a Spanish explorer and navigator who played a crucial role in the early Spanish exploration of the Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America. He was born in Triana, Spain, in the late 15th century and led several expeditions in the early 16th century, contributing to the mapping of the region.
People
Hernando + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hernando 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
Hernando: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hernando?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 673 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hernando 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 509,293 US residents.
Is Hernando a common name?
We classify Hernando as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 762 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hernando most popular?
The single biggest year for Hernando was 1967, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hernando is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hernando in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,856 people with the name Hernando, or 0.95 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,821 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 Hernando 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 Hernando?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hernando appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,855 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Hernando?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hernando is Hispanic at 85.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.4%) and Black (3.9%). 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 Hernando most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Hernando in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.7% (2,448 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 Hernando in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hernando a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hernando 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 Hernando still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hernando 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 Hernando 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 Hernando?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Hernando, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.