Hershy
An anglicized version of the German surname Hirsch, meaning "deer" or "stag".
Name Census estimates that about 1,048 living Americans carry the first name Hershy. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hershy today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hershy births was 2022 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hershy. 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
- • Hershy is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 327,056 Americans
Peak year
2022
74 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,138
Tracked since 1978
Popularity
Hershy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hershy from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 419 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Hershy remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hershy 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 Hershy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hershys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hershy
The name Hershy is a relatively modern variation of the German name Herschel, which is derived from the Hebrew name Hirsh, meaning "deer" or "hart." The earliest recorded use of the name Hirsh dates back to the Middle Ages in Europe, where it was a common Jewish name.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe arrived in the United States, bringing with them variations of traditional Jewish names. Hershy is believed to have emerged as an Americanized spelling of Herschel during this period, particularly among Ashkenazi Jewish communities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hershy was Hershy Frankel, a businessman and philanthropist from New York City, who lived from 1885 to 1963. Another notable individual was Hershy Milner, a Yiddish theater actor and director active in the early 20th century.
In the realm of literature, Hershy Fefer was a celebrated Yiddish poet and writer, born in 1900 in Ukraine. His works, including "Di Milkhome-Tsayt" (The War Time), provided a poignant portrayal of Jewish life during the turbulent years of World War II.
Hershy Shlesinger, born in 1932 in Poland, survived the Holocaust and went on to become a prominent Rabbi and author, known for his works on Jewish law and philosophy, such as "Niflaos Maharsha" and "Toras Chesed."
Lastly, Hershy Green, born in 1919 in New York City, was a renowned American artist and painter, renowned for his vibrant abstract expressionist works, including the mural "The Great Synagogue of Jerusalem" at the Jewish Museum in New York.
While the name Hershy is not as common today as it once was, it remains a part of the rich tapestry of Jewish names, carrying with it the history and resilience of a people who have endured and thrived across generations.
People
Hershy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hershy 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
Hershy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hershy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,048 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hershy 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 327,056 US residents.
Is Hershy a common name?
We classify Hershy as "Rare". It ranks above 90.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,059 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hershy most popular?
The single biggest year for Hershy was 2022, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hershy is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Hershy a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hershy 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.
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.