Hoyet
An anglicized spelling of a Slavic name with uncertain meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Hoyet. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hoyet today is around 81 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hoyet births was 1925 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hoyet. 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 Hoyet is about 81 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hoyets were born before 1955.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Hoyet. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
1925
8 babies that year
Average age
81
years old
1948 SSA rank
#3,469
Tracked since 1919
Popularity
Hoyet: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hoyet from the 1910s through to the 1940s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 14 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Hoyet remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hoyet 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 Hoyet 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 Hoyet
The given name Hoyet is a variant spelling of the French name Huet, which traces its origins back to the Germanic personal name Hugo. Hugo itself derives from the Old German words "hugu" meaning heart, mind or soul, and "wait" meaning brave or hardy. It emerged as a masculine name during the Middle Ages across parts of France, Germany, and other regions of Western Europe.
The name Hoyet likely arose as a phonetic spelling variation in certain French dialects, particularly those spoken in northern France near the border with modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands. Early recorded instances of the Huet surname can be found in medieval records from regions like Normandy and Picardy from the 11th century onwards.
While the Huet surname is relatively well-documented, specific historical references to individuals bearing the first name Hoyet are harder to come by. One of the earliest recorded examples is Hoyet de Villiers, a French nobleman and military officer who fought in the Hundred Years' War in the early 15th century.
Another notable bearer of the name was Hoyet van der Meulen, a 16th century Flemish painter known for his landscapes and genre scenes depicting rural life. He was born around 1540 in Brussels and worked primarily in Antwerp during the Dutch Golden Age.
In the 17th century, there was Hoyet de La Billarderie, a French explorer and sailor who accompanied the famous navigator Samuel de Champlain on several voyages to North America between 1603 and 1616. He helped establish the early French settlements in what is now Quebec, Canada.
Moving into the 19th century, Hoyet Priaulx was a prolific Guernsey poet and writer born in 1807. Many of his works captured the landscapes and traditions of life on the Channel Islands.
Finally, in the early 20th century, Hoyet Velhoven was a Dutch painter celebrated for his Impressionist landscapes and cityscapes, particularly those depicting scenes around Amsterdam where he lived from 1892 until his death in 1933.
People
Hoyet + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hoyet 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
Hoyet: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hoyet?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hoyet 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 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Hoyet a common name?
We classify Hoyet as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 38 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hoyet most popular?
The single biggest year for Hoyet was 1925, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hoyet is about 81 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 Hoyet in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hoyet a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hoyet 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 Hoyet still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hoyet 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 Hoyet 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 called Hoyet?
You can see how many people share the name Hoyet on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.