Hersey
Associated with the town of Hershey, Pennsylvania and the chocolate company.
Name Census estimates that about 104 living Americans carry the first name Hersey. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hersey today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hersey births was 1924 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hersey. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Hersey is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Herseys were born before 1959.
People living today
104
~ 1 in 3,295,715 Americans
Peak year
1924
14 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1969 SSA rank
#4,655
Tracked since 1912
Census
Hersey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 177 people with the first name Hersey, which placed it at #41,393 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
#41,393
National first-name rank
People counted
177
177 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
58.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hersey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hersey is Black at 58.2%. The next largest groups are White (28.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.6%). 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 Hersey 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 Hersey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American58.2% · 103
- White28.2% · 50
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.6% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 6
- Two or more races3.4% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 2
Popularity
Hersey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hersey from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 77 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
Hersey 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 Hersey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Herseys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hersey
The name Hersey is believed to have its origins in Old English or Anglo-Saxon languages. It is thought to be derived from the Old English word "hers", which means "army" or "host". The name may have been given to individuals who were part of a military force or army in ancient times.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hersey dates back to the 11th century in England. It was found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a survey of landowners and their estates commissioned by William the Conqueror. This suggests that the name was already in use during the Norman conquest of England.
In the 13th century, there are records of a man named Hersey de Stanton, who was a landowner in Stanton, Derbyshire, England. This provides evidence that the name was used as a given name during the Middle Ages.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure named Hersey Clopton lived in the late 15th century. He was a member of the English gentry and served as the High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1497.
In the 17th century, a Puritan minister named Hersey Goodwin was born in England around 1628. He later emigrated to New England and became a prominent figure in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, serving as a minister in Eastham and Salem.
Another individual with the name Hersey was Hersey Atkins, an American Revolutionary War soldier who fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. He was born in Massachusetts in 1742 and served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution.
In the 19th century, Hersey Everett was an American educator and politician. He was born in Massachusetts in 1809 and served as the president of the University of Illinois from 1868 to 1871.
While the name Hersey may have been more commonly used in earlier centuries, it has remained a relatively uncommon given name throughout history. However, its origins and connections to military and historical figures make it a unique and interesting name with a rich cultural heritage.
People
Hersey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hersey 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
Hersey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hersey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 104 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hersey 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 3,295,715 US residents.
Is Hersey a common name?
We classify Hersey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 331 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hersey most popular?
The single biggest year for Hersey was 1924, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hersey is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hersey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 177 people with the name Hersey, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,393 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 Hersey 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 Hersey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hersey leans strongly male. 159 people counted with this name were male (87.8%), compared with 22 female bearers (12.2%). 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 Hersey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hersey is Black at 58.2%. The next largest groups are White (28.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.6%). 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 Hersey most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Hersey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.2% (103 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 Hersey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hersey a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hersey 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 Hersey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hersey 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 Hersey 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 Hersey?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.