Heydi
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "a female guide".
Name Census estimates that about 671 living Americans carry the first name Heydi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Heydi today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Heydi births was 2008 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Heydi. 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
671
~ 1 in 510,811 Americans
Peak year
2008
43 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,004
Tracked since 1988
Census
Heydi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,671 people with the first name Heydi, which placed it at #8,638 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
#8,638
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,671 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
97.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Heydi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Heydi is Hispanic at 97.8%. The next largest groups are White (1.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.4%). 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 Heydi 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 Heydi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino97.8% · 1,635
- White1.6% · 26
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 7
- Black or African American0.2% · 3
Popularity
Heydi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Heydi 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 287 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Heydi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Heydi 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 Heydi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Heydis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, Arizona recorded the most babies named Heydi, while North Carolina, Florida, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 33 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Heydi
The name Heydi is a feminine given name of uncertain origin, with various theories about its roots and historical significance. One possible explanation traces its origins to the Old German word "haid," which means "bright" or "shining." In this context, Heydi could be interpreted as a name that signifies radiance or beauty.
Another theory suggests that Heydi is derived from the Old Norse name "Heiðr," which was a name associated with the Germanic goddess of the same name. Heiðr was revered as a goddess of fertility and prosperity, and her name may have been adopted as a given name to invoke her blessings and protection.
While the exact origins of the name remain obscure, there are historical references to individuals bearing this name. One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Heydi can be found in the medieval German epic poem "Das Nibelungenlied," which dates back to the 13th century. In this literary work, Heydi is mentioned as a minor character, suggesting that the name was in use during that time period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Heydi. One such figure was Heydi von Jüchen, a 14th-century German noblewoman known for her patronage of the arts and her influential role in the court of the Holy Roman Empire. Another prominent bearer of the name was Heydi Candaux, a 19th-century Swiss watchmaker and inventor credited with developing innovative techniques in watchmaking.
In the realm of literature, Heydi Zimmer was a 20th-century German author celebrated for her children's books and contributions to the genre of magical realism. Additionally, Heydi Guenther was a renowned 20th-century German-American mathematician and computer scientist who made significant contributions to the field of programming languages.
While these are but a few examples, the name Heydi has been carried by individuals from various walks of life throughout history, each leaving their mark in their respective fields and adding to the rich tapestry of cultural diversity.
People
Heydi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Heydi 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
Heydi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Heydi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 671 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Heydi 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 510,811 US residents.
Is Heydi a common name?
We classify Heydi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 680 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Heydi most popular?
The single biggest year for Heydi was 2008, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Heydi is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Heydi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,671 people with the name Heydi, or 0.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,638 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 Heydi 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 Heydi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Heydi appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,679 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Heydi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Heydi is Hispanic at 97.8%. The next largest groups are White (1.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.4%). 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 Heydi most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Heydi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.8% (1,635 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 Heydi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Heydi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Heydi 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 Heydi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Heydi 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 Heydi 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 Heydi?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Heydi, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.