Herson
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "rejoicing" or "glad".
Name Census estimates that about 514 living Americans carry the first name Herson. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Herson today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Herson births was 2006 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Herson. 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
514
~ 1 in 666,837 Americans
Peak year
2006
31 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,292
Tracked since 1985
Census
Herson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,146 people with the first name Herson, which placed it at #11,285 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
#11,285
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,146 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
90.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Herson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Herson is Hispanic at 90.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (3.9%) and White (3.4%). 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 Herson 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 Herson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino90.0% · 1,031
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 45
- White3.4% · 39
- Black or African American2.5% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Popularity
Herson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Herson from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 221 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Herson 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 Herson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hersons live
Origin
Meaning and history of Herson
The name Herson finds its origins in Old Norse, a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their descendants during the Viking Age, which lasted from the late 8th century to the late 11th century. It is derived from the Old Norse name "Hersteinn," which is a compound of the words "herr" meaning "army" and "steinn" meaning "stone."
In the Icelandic language, a descendant of Old Norse, the name "Herson" is spelled "Hersteinn." This variation suggests that the name may have been introduced to other regions by Norse settlers or Vikings during their expansions and explorations across Europe and the North Atlantic.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name "Herson" can be found in the Landnámabók, a medieval Icelandic manuscript that details the settlement of Iceland by Norse settlers in the 9th and 10th centuries. The name is mentioned in connection with a prominent chieftain and landowner from that era.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Herson. One such person was Herson Gómez, a Spanish explorer and conquistador who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the Americas in 1493. He was among the first Europeans to set foot on the island of Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
Another historical figure with the name Herson was Herson de Cuvillies (1695-1768), a French-German architect and builder who was responsible for the design and construction of several notable buildings in Munich, including the Amalienburg Pavilion and the Residenz Antiquarium.
In the realm of literature, Herson Pereira (1900-1988) was a Brazilian poet and writer who was a prominent figure in the Modernist movement in Brazilian literature. His works often explored themes of social injustice and the plight of the working class.
Herson Capri (1933-2010) was an Italian singer and actor who rose to fame in the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known for his hit song "Oh, Marie" and his appearances in several Italian films during the height of his popularity.
Lastly, Herson Mosquera Ramos (born 1977) is a Colombian professional basketball player who has played for various teams in Colombia and abroad, including stints in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Memphis Grizzlies.
People
Herson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Herson 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
Herson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Herson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 514 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Herson 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 666,837 US residents.
Is Herson a common name?
We classify Herson as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 522 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Herson most popular?
The single biggest year for Herson was 2006, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Herson is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Herson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,146 people with the name Herson, or 0.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,285 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 Herson 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 Herson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Herson appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,145 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Herson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Herson is Hispanic at 90.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (3.9%) and White (3.4%). 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 Herson most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Herson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.0% (1,031 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 Herson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Herson a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Herson 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 Herson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Herson 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 Herson 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 have the name Herson?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Herson on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.