Hughie
Diminutive of Hugh, a masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "mind" or "intellect".
Name Census estimates that about 529 living Americans carry the first name Hughie. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hughie today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hughie births was 1925 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hughie. 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 Hughie is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hughies were born before 1965.
People living today
529
~ 1 in 647,929 Americans
Peak year
1925
48 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9,221
Tracked since 1888
Popularity
Hughie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hughie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 377 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
Hughie 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 Hughie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hughies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Tennessee, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Hughie, while South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hughie
Hughie is a diminutive form of the masculine given name Hugh, which has its origins in the medieval Germanic name Hugho. The name Hugho is believed to be derived from the Germanic elements "hug" meaning "heart, mind, or soul" and "haht" meaning "bright" or "vigorous." Together, the name can be interpreted as "bright in mind" or "vigorous heart."
The name Hugh gained popularity in the Middle Ages, particularly in France and England, where it was introduced by the Normans. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book, a survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. Several landowners and tenants were listed with the name Hugh.
In the 12th century, Hugh of Lincoln, a young boy whose death was blamed on Jews, became a prominent figure in the development of the blood libel myth. He was posthumously venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. Another notable figure was Hugh of St. Victor, a renowned theologian and mystic who lived from around 1096 to 1141.
During the Renaissance period, the name gained further prominence with individuals like Hugh Latimer (c. 1485-1555), an English Protestant reformer and one of the leaders of the English Reformation. Another notable figure was Hugh O'Neill (c. 1550-1616), an Irish earl who led a major rebellion against English rule in the late 16th century.
In the 18th century, Hugh Mercer (1725-1777) was a Scottish-American soldier and physician who served as a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Hugh Capet (c. 938-996) was a French nobleman who became the first King of France of the Capetian dynasty in 987.
In more recent times, the diminutive form Hughie has been used as a standalone name. Some notable individuals with this name include Hughie Jennings (1869-1925), an American baseball player and manager, and Hughie Fury (born 1994), a British professional boxer.
People
Hughie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hughie 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
Hughie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hughie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 529 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hughie 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 647,929 US residents.
Is Hughie a common name?
We classify Hughie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,669 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hughie most popular?
The single biggest year for Hughie was 1925, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hughie is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Hughie a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hughie 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.