Horus
An Egyptian masculine name derived from the falcon-headed sky god.
Name Census estimates that about 73 living Americans carry the first name Horus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Horus today is around 6 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Horus births was 2018 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Horus. 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 Horus. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
73
~ 1 in 4,695,265 Americans
Peak year
2018
13 babies that year
Average age
6
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,549
Tracked since 2011
Popularity
Horus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Horus from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 37 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Horus 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 Horus 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 Horus
The name Horus originates from the ancient Egyptian language and culture, dating back to around 3100 BC. It is derived from the Egyptian word "Hr" or "Hor", which means "the falcon" or "the one who is above". Horus was one of the most significant deities in the ancient Egyptian religion, representing the sky, kingship, and the sun.
The name Horus is closely tied to the ancient Egyptian mythological tales and religious texts, particularly the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts. These texts describe Horus as the son of Osiris and Isis, and portray him as the rightful heir to the throne of Egypt. He played a crucial role in the mythology, battling and eventually defeating his uncle Seth, who had killed Osiris and usurped the throne.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Horus can be found in the Pyramid Texts, which date back to around 2400 BC. These texts were inscribed on the walls of the pyramids of the Old Kingdom pharaohs, including Unas, the last pharaoh of the 5th Dynasty.
Throughout ancient Egyptian history, several pharaohs adopted the name Horus as part of their royal titulary. One notable example is Horus Aha (circa 3100 BC), who is considered the second pharaoh of the First Dynasty and the founder of Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt.
Another famous bearer of the name Horus was Horus the Elder (also known as Horus the Great or Haroeris), who was believed to be the patron deity of Khemmis (Akhmim), an ancient city in Upper Egypt. He was revered as a god of the sky and was often depicted as a falcon or a falcon-headed man.
In the Ptolemaic Period (305–30 BC), the name Horus was used by several rulers, including Ptolemy V Epiphanes (210–180 BC), who adopted the name Horus Son of Isis and Horus the Child as part of his royal titulary.
Outside of ancient Egypt, the name Horus has been used in various contexts throughout history. For example, Horus was the name of a Roman poet who lived in the 1st century BC and wrote a poem titled "The Battle of the Mice and the Frogs".
Additionally, Horus Apollo, an Egyptian grammarian and philosopher from the 5th century AD, wrote the "Hieroglyphica", a treatise on the hieroglyphic script of ancient Egypt, which became an important source for the study of Egyptian mythology and hieroglyphs during the Renaissance.
People
Horus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Horus 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
Horus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Horus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 73 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Horus 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 4,695,265 US residents.
Is Horus a common name?
We classify Horus as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 74 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Horus most popular?
The single biggest year for Horus was 2018, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Horus is about 6 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Horus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Horus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Horus 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 Horus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Horus 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 Horus 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Horus?
Find out how many Americans are named Horus on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.