Hirsh
A masculine name of German origin meaning "deer" or "stag".
Name Census estimates that about 8 living Americans carry the first name Hirsh. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hirsh today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hirsh births was 1994 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hirsh. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Hirsh. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
8
~ 1 in 42,844,292 Americans
Peak year
1994
8 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
1994 SSA rank
#6,608
Tracked since 1994
Census
Hirsh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 117 people with the first name Hirsh, which placed it at #50,838 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
#50,838
National first-name rank
People counted
117
117 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hirsh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hirsh is White at 57.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (41.0%) and Hispanic (1.7%). 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 Hirsh 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 Hirsh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.3% · 67
- Asian and Pacific Islander41.0% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 2
Popularity
Hirsh: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Hirsh 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 Hirsh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 8 | 0 | 8 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Hirsh
The given name Hirsh has its origins in the Yiddish language, which is a dialect of High German that was spoken by Ashkenazi Jewish communities across Central and Eastern Europe. The name is believed to have derived from the German word "Hirsch," meaning "deer" or "stag."
In ancient times, animal names were often given to children as a symbolic representation of attributes like strength, agility, or grace. The deer was widely revered in various cultures for its swiftness, beauty, and resilience, making Hirsh a desirable name choice.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hirsh can be found in the 16th century, when Rabbi Hirsh ben Yaakov, a prominent Jewish scholar and author, lived in Kraków, Poland. His works on Jewish law and ethics had a significant impact on the intellectual discourse of that era.
Another notable figure bearing the name Hirsh was Hirsh Glik, a Polish-Jewish poet and leader of the Bund, a Jewish socialist movement. Born in 1922, Glik wrote the famous "Partizaner Lied" (Partisan Song), which became an anthem of resistance during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Nazis in 1943.
In the realm of literature, Hirsh Smolar, a Yiddish writer and journalist from Ukraine, made significant contributions. Born in 1905, Smolar's works reflected the everyday struggles and aspirations of Jewish communities in Eastern Europe during the early 20th century.
The name Hirsh also found its way into the world of art through Hirsh Fenster, a Russian-born American sculptor and painter. Born in 1899, Fenster's works often explored themes of Jewish identity and the human condition, earning him recognition in the American art scene of the mid-20th century.
In more recent times, Hirsh Singh, an Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist, has made a name for himself in the tech industry. Born in 1969, Singh co-founded the successful software company Zaplet and has been actively involved in various charitable initiatives.
While the name Hirsh may have its roots in the Yiddish language, it has transcended cultural boundaries and found its way into various societies, with individuals bearing this name leaving their mark across diverse fields throughout history.
People
Hirsh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hirsh 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
Hirsh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hirsh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hirsh 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 42,844,292 US residents.
Is Hirsh a common name?
We classify Hirsh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 24.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hirsh most popular?
The single biggest year for Hirsh was 1994, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hirsh is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hirsh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 117 people with the name Hirsh, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #50,838 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 Hirsh 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 Hirsh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hirsh appears almost entirely male. Of the 116 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Hirsh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hirsh is White at 57.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (41.0%) and Hispanic (1.7%). 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 Hirsh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hirsh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.3% (67 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 Hirsh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hirsh a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hirsh 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 Hirsh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hirsh 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 Hirsh 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 Hirsh?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.