Hondo
A Spanish name meaning "deep" or "profound".
Name Census estimates that about 88 living Americans carry the first name Hondo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hondo today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hondo births was 2022 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hondo. 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 Hondo. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
88
~ 1 in 3,894,936 Americans
Peak year
2022
8 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,954
Tracked since 1967
Popularity
Hondo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hondo from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 30 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Hondo remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hondo 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 Hondo 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 Hondo
The given name Hondo has its origins in the Spanish language. It is derived from the Spanish adjective "hondo," which means deep or profound. The name likely first emerged in Spain during the medieval period, around the 11th or 12th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hondo can be found in the 13th-century epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid," which chronicles the life and exploits of the Castilian nobleman Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, known as El Cid. In this work, the name Hondo is mentioned as a character, although it is unclear whether it was used as a first name or a descriptive term.
Throughout the centuries, the name Hondo has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest was Hondo Navarro (c. 1490-1556), a Spanish conquistador who participated in the conquest of Mexico and served as a lieutenant under Hernán Cortés. Another prominent figure was Hondo Gómez de Torres (1516-1579), a Spanish explorer who led expeditions to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.
In the 17th century, Hondo de Mendoza (1620-1683) was a Spanish military officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Guatemala from 1672 to 1677. During the same period, Hondo Álvarez de Toledo (1639-1701) was a Spanish nobleman and diplomat who held various positions at the court of King Charles II.
Moving into the 19th century, Hondo Martínez (1810-1887) was a Mexican general and politician who played a significant role in the Reform War and the French Intervention in Mexico. He served as the governor of the state of Guerrero from 1867 to 1871.
While the name Hondo has Spanish roots, it has been adopted and used in various other cultures and languages over time, reflecting the global reach and influence of the Spanish language and culture.
People
Hondo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hondo 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
Hondo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hondo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 88 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hondo 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 3,894,936 US residents.
Is Hondo a common name?
We classify Hondo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 92 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hondo most popular?
The single biggest year for Hondo was 2022, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hondo is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Hondo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hondo 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.
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.