Herta
An Old German feminine name meaning "bright" or "shining power".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Herta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Herta today is around 97 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Herta births was 1931 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Herta. 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 Herta is about 97 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hertas were born before 1939.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Herta. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1931
10 babies that year
Average age
97
years old
1939 SSA rank
#3,001
Tracked since 1912
Census
Herta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 782 people with the first name Herta, which placed it at #14,896 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
#14,896
National first-name rank
People counted
782
782 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Herta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Herta is White at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.3%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Herta 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 Herta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.3% · 714
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 34
- Black or African American3.5% · 27
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 5
- Two or more races0.3% · 2
Popularity
Herta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Herta from the 1910s through to the 1930s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 34 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Herta remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Herta 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 Herta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Herta
The name Herta is of Old German origin, derived from the word "heri" meaning army or warrior. It gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in areas that are now part of modern-day Germany and Austria.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Herta dates back to the 8th century. It appears in the Codex Laureshamensis, a medieval manuscript from the Lorsch Abbey in present-day Germany, which lists the names of individuals who donated land or possessions to the abbey.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Herta was associated with strength, resilience, and bravery. It was often given to daughters born into noble or warrior families, as a symbol of the family's valor and military prowess.
One notable historical figure bearing the name Herta was Herta von Treffurt, a 13th-century German noblewoman and landowner. She was known for her involvement in the construction of several churches and monasteries in the region of Thuringia.
Another significant figure was Herta Oberheuser, a German physician born in 1911 and died in 1978. She was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity for her involvement in unethical medical experiments on prisoners during World War II while serving at the Ravensbrück concentration camp.
In the realm of literature, Herta Müller, born in 1953, is a renowned Romanian-German novelist and essayist. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2009 for her works depicting the harsh realities of life under the communist regime in Romania.
Herta Heuwer, born in 1919 and died in 1991, was a German actress and cabaret performer. She gained popularity for her roles in numerous films and theater productions during the post-World War II era in Germany.
Herta Stüber, born in 1925 and died in 2015, was a German athlete and Olympic gold medalist. She excelled in the discus throw and shot put events, winning multiple medals at the Olympic Games and European Championships in the late 1940s and 1950s.
People
Herta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Herta 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
Herta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Herta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Herta 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Herta a common name?
We classify Herta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 87 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Herta most popular?
The single biggest year for Herta was 1931, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Herta is about 97 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Herta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 782 people with the name Herta, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,896 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 Herta 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 Herta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Herta appears almost entirely female. Of the 776 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Herta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Herta is White at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.3%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Herta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Herta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.3% (714 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 Herta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Herta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Herta in the SSA data are female. 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 Herta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Herta 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 Herta 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 Americans are named Herta?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.