Hiawatha
Iroquois name meaning "he who seeks the wampum belt".
Name Census estimates that about 517 living Americans carry the first name Hiawatha. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 75.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Hiawatha today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hiawatha births was 1934 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hiawatha. 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 Hiawatha is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hiawathas were born before 1969.
People living today
517
~ 1 in 662,968 Americans
Peak year
1934
31 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
2004 SSA rank
#7,113
Tracked since 1911
Census
Hiawatha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 503 people with the first name Hiawatha, which placed it at #20,514 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
#20,514
National first-name rank
People counted
503
503 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
79.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hiawatha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hiawatha is Black at 79.3%. The next largest groups are White (8.7%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Hiawatha 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 Hiawatha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American79.3% · 399
- White8.7% · 44
- Two or more races5.6% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.4% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Hiawatha
Hiawatha is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,228 total registrations, 925 (75.3%) were male and 303 (24.7%) were female.
Hiawatha as a male name
- Ranked #12,015 in 2004
- 5 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1934 (26 births)
Hiawatha as a female name
- Ranked #7,113 in 1977
- 8 female births in 1977
- Peak: 1926 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hiawatha on both sides of the split. Of the 498 people counted with this name, 330 were male (66.3%) and 168 were female (33.7%).
Popularity
Hiawatha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hiawatha from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 235 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hiawatha 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 Hiawatha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hiawathas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, Alabama, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Hiawatha, while Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hiawatha
The name Hiawatha originated from the Iroquoian languages spoken by the indigenous peoples of North America. It is believed to have been derived from the Mohawk word "hai-ye-wat-hau," which means "he makes rivers." The name is closely associated with the legend of Hiawatha, a Native American leader and co-founder of the Iroquois Confederacy, which united the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations.
The earliest known written record of the name Hiawatha dates back to the late 17th century, when it appeared in the writings of French Jesuit missionaries who had interactions with the Iroquois people. The name gained wider recognition in the 19th century after Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published his epic poem "The Song of Hiawatha" in 1855, which popularized the legend of Hiawatha and introduced the name to a broader audience.
One of the most notable figures in history associated with the name Hiawatha is the legendary Native American leader himself. While the exact dates of his birth and death are uncertain, he is believed to have lived in the late 16th century and played a crucial role in the formation of the Iroquois Confederacy, which helped establish a lasting peace among the nations.
Another prominent individual with the name Hiawatha was Hiawatha Belt (1854-1944), a Mohawk chief and diplomat who worked to preserve the traditions and rights of his people. He was known for his efforts to maintain the sovereignty of the Iroquois Confederacy and advocated for the recognition of Native American land rights.
In the realm of literature, Hiawatha Belt (1909-1984), a Mohawk writer and educator, made significant contributions to the preservation and promotion of Native American culture and traditions. He authored several books, including "The Longhouse Longhouse," which explored the history and customs of the Iroquois people.
The name Hiawatha has also been adopted by various organizations and institutions. For example, Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians, established in 1899 in Canton, South Dakota, was one of the earliest facilities dedicated to providing mental health care for Native Americans.
Additionally, the name Hiawatha has been used for geographical locations, such as the city of Hiawatha in Kansas, founded in 1857, and the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, established in 1931.
People
Hiawatha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hiawatha 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
Hiawatha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hiawatha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 517 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hiawatha 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 662,968 US residents.
Is Hiawatha a common name?
We classify Hiawatha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,228 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hiawatha most popular?
The single biggest year for Hiawatha was 1934, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hiawatha is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hiawatha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 503 people with the name Hiawatha, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,514 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 Hiawatha 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 Hiawatha?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hiawatha on both sides of the split. Of the 498 people counted with this name, 330 were male (66.3%) and 168 were female (33.7%). 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 Hiawatha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hiawatha is Black at 79.3%. The next largest groups are White (8.7%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Hiawatha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Hiawatha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.3% (399 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 Hiawatha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hiawatha a male name?
Yes, 75.3% of people registered as Hiawatha 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 Hiawatha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hiawatha 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 Hiawatha 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 are called Hiawatha?
Want to know how many people share the name Hiawatha? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.