Hettie
A diminutive of Henrietta, derived from the French Henri meaning "estate ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 789 living Americans carry the first name Hettie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hettie today is around 74 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hettie births was 1916 (170 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hettie. 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 Hettie is about 74 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hetties were born before 1962.
People living today
789
~ 1 in 434,416 Americans
Peak year
1916
170 babies that year
Average age
74
years old
2019 SSA rank
#14,450
Tracked since 1880
Popularity
Hettie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hettie from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 1,335 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hettie 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 Hettie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hetties live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Hettie, while New York, Louisiana, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 150 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hettie
The name Hettie is a diminutive form of the name Henrietta, which has its roots in the medieval Germanic name Henriette. Henriette itself is derived from the Old French name Henri, meaning "estate ruler." This name gained widespread popularity during the Middle Ages and was later introduced to England by the Normans.
Hettie became a common nickname for Henrietta in the 19th century, particularly in English-speaking countries. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Hettie can be found in the 1841 novel "The Old Curiosity Shop" by Charles Dickens, where a character named Hettie is mentioned.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Hettie. One of the most famous was Hettie Green (1835-1916), an American businesswoman and financier known for her frugal lifestyle and impressive wealth. She was one of the richest women in the United States during her lifetime.
Another prominent Hettie was Hettie Jones (1934-), an American poet, writer, and activist who was part of the Beat Generation literary movement. She was married to writer LeRoi Jones (later known as Amiri Baraka) and was actively involved in the Black Arts Movement.
In the world of sports, Hettie Sheeran (1877-1965) was a pioneering female baseball player who played in several semi-professional and amateur leagues in the early 20th century. She was known for her exceptional pitching skills and helped pave the way for women's participation in baseball.
Hettie MacDonald (1890-1975) was a Canadian-born American actress who appeared in numerous silent films during the early days of Hollywood. She is particularly remembered for her roles in films like "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) and "Intolerance" (1916).
Another notable Hettie was Hettie Dyrenfort (1923-2016), a Dutch resistance fighter during World War II. She played a crucial role in rescuing Allied pilots and helping them escape from Nazi-occupied territories, risking her life in the process.
While the name Hettie has declined in popularity in recent decades, it remains a part of history, with its origins rooted in the medieval Germanic name Henriette and a legacy that spans various fields, from literature and film to sports and resistance movements.
People
Hettie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hettie 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
Hettie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hettie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 789 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hettie 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 434,416 US residents.
Is Hettie a common name?
We classify Hettie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,294 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hettie most popular?
The single biggest year for Hettie was 1916, when 170 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hettie is about 74 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Hettie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hettie 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.
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.