Hiram
The masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "elevated one" or "high-born".
Name Census estimates that about 7,418 living Americans carry the first name Hiram. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hiram today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hiram births was 1920 (221 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hiram. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Hiram with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.4K
~ 1 in 46,206 Americans
Peak year
1920
221 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,763
Tracked since 1880
Census
Hiram in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,890 people with the first name Hiram, which placed it at #2,893 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
#2,893
National first-name rank
People counted
7.9K
7,890 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
51.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hiram
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hiram is Hispanic at 51.9%. The next largest groups are White (30.4%) and Black (12.4%). 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 Hiram 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 Hiram at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino51.9% · 4,091
- White30.4% · 2,400
- Black or African American12.4% · 981
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 195
- Two or more races2.0% · 157
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 66
Popularity
Hiram: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hiram from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,830 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
Hiram 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 Hiram during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hirams live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. Texas, New York, California recorded the most babies named Hiram, while Colorado, Massachusetts, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 230 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hiram
The name Hiram is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language. It is derived from the Hebrew words "Ram" meaning "exalted" and "Chiy" meaning "life". Together, the name Hiram can be interpreted as "exalted life" or "brother is exalted".
The name Hiram is mentioned in several religious texts, including the Bible and the Qur'an. In the Bible, Hiram was the king of Tyre, who provided materials and skilled workers to help King Solomon build the Temple in Jerusalem. This is recorded in the First Book of Kings and the Second Book of Chronicles.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Hiram can be found in the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre, located in modern-day Lebanon. Hiram I, the king of Tyre, is believed to have reigned from around 980 BC to 947 BC. He is renowned for his alliance with King David and King Solomon, and for his role in the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Hiram. One of the most famous is Hiram Bingham (1875-1956), the American explorer and academic who rediscovered the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru in 1911. Another well-known Hiram is Hiram Powers (1805-1873), an American neoclassical sculptor best known for his marble sculpture "The Greek Slave".
Hiram Revels (1822-1901) was an African-American clergyman and politician who became the first African-American to serve in the United States Congress when he was elected to the Senate from Mississippi in 1870. Hiram Walker (1816-1899) was a Canadian entrepreneur and founder of the Hiram Walker and Sons distillery, which became renowned for its Canadian Club whisky.
Hiram Maxim (1840-1916) was an American-born British inventor best known for his development of the first portable, fully automatic machine gun, the Maxim gun. His invention had a significant impact on modern warfare and military tactics.
People
Hiram + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hiram 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
Hiram: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hiram?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,418 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hiram 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 46,206 US residents.
Is Hiram a common name?
We classify Hiram as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,352 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hiram most popular?
The single biggest year for Hiram was 1920, when 221 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hiram is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hiram in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,890 people with the name Hiram, or 2.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,893 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 Hiram 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 Hiram?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hiram appears almost entirely male. Of the 7,890 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 Hiram?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hiram is Hispanic at 51.9%. The next largest groups are White (30.4%) and Black (12.4%). 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 Hiram most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Hiram in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.9% (4,091 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 Hiram in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hiram a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hiram 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 Hiram still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hiram 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 Hiram 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 Hiram?
You can see how many Americans are named Hiram on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.