Herschel
A masculine name of German origin meaning "deer hunter".
Name Census estimates that about 3,825 living Americans carry the first name Herschel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Herschel today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Herschel births was 1921 (277 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Herschel. 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
3.8K
~ 1 in 89,609 Americans
Peak year
1921
277 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,929
Tracked since 1880
Census
Herschel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,726 people with the first name Herschel, which placed it at #4,835 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
#4,835
National first-name rank
People counted
3.7K
3,726 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Herschel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Herschel is White at 73.8%. The next largest groups are Black (18.5%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Herschel 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 Herschel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.8% · 2,750
- Black or African American18.5% · 690
- Two or more races2.8% · 105
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 67
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 62
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 52
Popularity
Herschel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Herschel 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 2,258 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
Herschel 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 Herschel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Herschels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. Indiana, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Herschel, while Nebraska, Maryland, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 229 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Herschel
The name Herschel originates from the German language, with its roots tracing back to the German word "Herrschel," which means "little ruler" or "little lord." This name gained prominence during the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Europe.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Herschel can be found in reference to the famous astronomer Sir Frederick William Herschel, who was born in 1738 in Hanover, Germany. He is renowned for his groundbreaking discovery of the planet Uranus in 1781 and his contributions to the field of astronomy.
Another notable figure named Herschel was Sir John Herschel, the son of Sir Frederick William Herschel. Born in 1792, he followed in his father's footsteps and became an accomplished astronomer, mathematician, and chemist. He is particularly known for his pioneering work in photography and his extensive cataloging of nebulae and star clusters.
The name Herschel also gained recognition through the life of Herschel Grynszpan, a German-Jewish refugee whose actions in 1938 were used as a pretext by the Nazi regime for the infamous Kristallnacht pogrom against Jewish communities across Germany and Austria.
In the realm of literature, Herschel is the name of a character in the novel "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" by William Kotzwinkle, published in 1996. This fictional bear character explores themes of self-discovery and wilderness.
Another notable figure with the name Herschel is Herschel Walker, an American former professional football player and mixed martial artist. Born in 1962, he had a successful career in the National Football League (NFL) and later pursued a career in mixed martial arts.
While the name Herschel has its roots in German origins, it has been adopted and used across various cultures and regions over the centuries, particularly in English-speaking countries. The name's association with notable figures in astronomy, literature, and sports has contributed to its enduring popularity and recognition.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Herschel
People
Herschel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Herschel 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
Herschel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Herschel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,825 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Herschel 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 89,609 US residents.
Is Herschel a common name?
We classify Herschel as "Rare". It ranks above 95.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,640 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Herschel most popular?
The single biggest year for Herschel was 1921, when 277 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Herschel is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Herschel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,726 people with the name Herschel, or 1.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,835 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 Herschel 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 Herschel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Herschel appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,728 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Herschel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Herschel is White at 73.8%. The next largest groups are Black (18.5%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Herschel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Herschel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.8% (2,750 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 Herschel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Herschel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Herschel 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 Herschel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Herschel 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 Herschel 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 Herschel?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.