Hoffman
From Old German meaning "courtier, member of the household".
Name Census estimates that about 0 living Americans carry the first name Hoffman. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hoffman today is around 0 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hoffman births was 1912 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hoffman. 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 Hoffman. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
0
~ - Americans
Peak year
1912
5 babies that year
Average age
-
1912 SSA rank
#2,700
Tracked since 1912
Census
Hoffman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 119 people with the first name Hoffman, which placed it at #50,492 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
#50,492
National first-name rank
People counted
119
119 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hoffman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hoffman is White at 57.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.4%) and Black (9.2%). 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 Hoffman 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 Hoffman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.1% · 68
- Hispanic or Latino24.4% · 29
- Black or African American9.2% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 5
- Two or more races3.4% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 2
Popularity
Hoffman: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Hoffman 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 Hoffman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Hoffman
The name Hoffman has its origins in the German language and culture, dating back to the Middle Ages. It derives from the word "hof," which means "court" or "farm," and the suffix "-mann," meaning "man." Therefore, Hoffman translates to "court man" or "farm man," likely referring to someone who worked on a noble's estate or lived on a farm.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hoffman can be found in the historical records of the Holy Roman Empire in the 13th century. It was a common name among the Germanic people, particularly in regions like Bavaria and Saxony, where many families bore this surname.
In the realm of literature, the name Hoffman appears in several German folk tales and legends, often associated with skilled craftsmen or hardworking peasants. The Brothers Grimm, renowned for their collection of fairy tales, included characters with the name Hoffman in some of their stories.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Hoffman. One of the most famous is E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822), a German Romantic author, composer, and artist known for his influential works, including the novella "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," which inspired the famous ballet.
Another prominent figure was Hans Hoffman (1530-1591), a German Renaissance painter and engraver who was part of the Danube school of painters. His works, primarily religious paintings and portraits, adorned churches and aristocratic households across Europe.
In the realm of science, Albert Hofmann (1906-2008) was a Swiss chemist who first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in 1938, inadvertently discovering its psychedelic properties a few years later. His contributions to the study of psychedelics and their potential therapeutic uses were significant.
The name Hoffman also gained recognition in the field of music with composers such as Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776-1822), a contemporary of E.T.A. Hoffmann, known for his operas and instrumental works, and Paul Hoffmann (1691-1757), a German Baroque composer and organist.
Another notable bearer of the name was Melchior Hoffman (c. 1495-1543), a German Protestant reformer and one of the earliest leaders of the Anabaptist movement, which advocated for adult baptism and separation of church and state.
People
Hoffman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hoffman 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
Hoffman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hoffman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 0 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hoffman 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 - US residents.
Is Hoffman a common name?
We classify Hoffman as "Very Rare". It ranks above 2.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hoffman most popular?
The single biggest year for Hoffman was 1912, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hoffman is about 0 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hoffman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 119 people with the name Hoffman, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #50,492 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 Hoffman 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 Hoffman?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hoffman on both sides of the split. Of the 119 people counted with this name, 91 were male (76.5%) and 28 were female (23.5%). 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 Hoffman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hoffman is White at 57.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.4%) and Black (9.2%). 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 Hoffman most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hoffman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.1% (68 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 Hoffman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hoffman a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hoffman 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 Hoffman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hoffman 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 Hoffman 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 Hoffman?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Hoffman on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.