Hughey
A masculine diminutive form of the name Hugh of Germanic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 97 living Americans carry the first name Hughey. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hughey today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hughey births was 1917 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hughey. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Hughey with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Hughey is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hugheys were born before 1957.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Hughey. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
97
~ 1 in 3,533,550 Americans
Peak year
1917
21 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1962 SSA rank
#4,302
Tracked since 1893
Census
Hughey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 147 people with the first name Hughey, which placed it at #45,869 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
#45,869
National first-name rank
People counted
147
147 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hughey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hughey is White at 65.3%. The next largest groups are Black (28.6%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Hughey 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 Hughey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.3% · 96
- Black or African American28.6% · 42
- Two or more races3.4% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1
Popularity
Hughey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hughey from the 1890s through to the 1960s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 95 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hughey 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 Hughey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hugheys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hughey
The name Hughey is an Anglicized form of the French name Hugues, which in turn derived from the Germanic name Hugo. The name Hugo originated from the Old German word 'hug', meaning heart, mind, or soul. It was a popular name among the Frankish nobility during the Middle Ages.
In the 8th century, the name Hugues appeared in the medieval French epic poem 'The Song of Roland'. The poem recounts the heroic deeds of a Frankish military leader named Hugues during the reign of Charlemagne. This early literary reference contributed to the name's spread across Europe.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Hughey was Hugues Capet, the founder of the Capetian dynasty that ruled France from 987 to 1328. Hugues Capet was born around 940 and became the first King of France in 987 after being elected by the nobility.
In the 12th century, Hugues de Payens, a French knight, founded the influential Catholic military order known as the Knights Templar. De Payens was born around 1070 and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the Crusades.
During the Renaissance period, Hugues de Groot, better known as Hugo Grotius, was a Dutch jurist and philosopher born in 1583. He is widely regarded as the founder of modern international law and made significant contributions to the development of natural law theory.
In the world of literature, Hugues Felicité Robert de Lamennais, born in 1782, was a French Catholic philosopher and writer who played a prominent role in the liberal Catholic movement of the 19th century. His works, such as 'Words of a Believer', had a profound impact on religious and political thought in Europe.
Another notable bearer of the name was Hugues de Lionne, a French diplomat born in 1611. He served as the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under King Louis XIV and played a crucial role in shaping the foreign policy of France during the 17th century.
People
Hughey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hughey 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
Hughey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hughey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 97 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hughey 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 3,533,550 US residents.
Is Hughey a common name?
We classify Hughey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 405 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hughey most popular?
The single biggest year for Hughey was 1917, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hughey is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hughey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 147 people with the name Hughey, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,869 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 Hughey 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 Hughey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hughey leans strongly male. 147 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 2 female bearers (1.3%). 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 Hughey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hughey is White at 65.3%. The next largest groups are Black (28.6%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Hughey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hughey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.3% (96 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 Hughey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hughey a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hughey 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 Hughey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hughey 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 Hughey 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 many people have Hughey as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.