Hodges
From English, meaning "keeper of a hedge" or "one from the hedged area".
Name Census estimates that about 107 living Americans carry the first name Hodges. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hodges today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hodges births was 1921 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hodges. 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 Hodges is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hodges' were born before 1968.
People living today
107
~ 1 in 3,203,312 Americans
Peak year
1921
14 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
2017 SSA rank
#12,984
Tracked since 1917
Census
Hodges in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 221 people with the first name Hodges, which placed it at #36,071 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
#36,071
National first-name rank
People counted
221
221 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
57.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hodges
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hodges is Black at 57.5%. The next largest groups are White (37.6%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Hodges 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 Hodges at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American57.5% · 127
- White37.6% · 83
- Two or more races2.7% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 5
Popularity
Hodges: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hodges from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 74 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hodges 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 Hodges during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hodges
The name Hodges is an English surname that originated as a derivation of the given name Roger. It is believed to have emerged during the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century, as a diminutive form of the name Roger, which itself is derived from the Germanic elements "hrod" meaning "fame" and "ger" meaning "spear."
The earliest recorded instances of the name Hodges can be traced back to medieval England, where it was likely used as a nickname or a shortened version of Roger. Over time, the name gained popularity and spread across various regions of the country.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Hodges was Sir John Hodges, a prominent English politician and military commander who lived in the 15th century. He served as the Lord Mayor of London in 1491 and played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses.
Another notable figure from history who bore the name Hodges was Nathaniel Hodges, an English physician and writer who lived in the late 17th century. He is best known for his work "Loimologia," which was a treatise on the plague and other contagious diseases.
In the 18th century, one of the most famous individuals with the name Hodges was William Hodges, an English painter and traveler. He accompanied Captain James Cook on his second voyage to the Pacific and produced numerous paintings and sketches depicting the landscapes, people, and cultures he encountered during his travels.
Moving into the 19th century, we find William Hodges, an English Baptist minister and author who was born in 1805. He wrote several influential works on Baptist theology and played a significant role in the development of the Baptist movement in England.
In the realm of literature, one cannot overlook the contributions of James Hodges, an English author and poet who lived in the early 20th century. He is best known for his poetry collections, such as "The Pilgrim and Other Poems" and "The Trifler," which gained critical acclaim during his lifetime.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Hodges. While the name has its roots in medieval England, it has since spread across the world and continues to be used as a given name or surname in various cultures and societies.
People
Hodges + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hodges 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
Hodges: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hodges?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 107 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hodges 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 3,203,312 US residents.
Is Hodges a common name?
We classify Hodges as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 237 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hodges most popular?
The single biggest year for Hodges was 1921, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hodges is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hodges in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 221 people with the name Hodges, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,071 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 Hodges 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 Hodges?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hodges leans strongly male. 204 people counted with this name were male (91.1%), compared with 20 female bearers (8.9%). 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 Hodges?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hodges is Black at 57.5%. The next largest groups are White (37.6%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Hodges most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Hodges in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.5% (127 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 Hodges in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hodges a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hodges 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 Hodges still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hodges 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 Hodges 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 common is the name Hodges?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.