Hugues
Derived from the Germanic name Hugh, meaning "heart, mind, spirit".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Hugues. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hugues today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hugues births was 1985 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hugues. 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 Hugues. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
1985
5 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
1991 SSA rank
#8,709
Tracked since 1985
Census
Hugues in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 464 people with the first name Hugues, which placed it at #21,757 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
#21,757
National first-name rank
People counted
464
464 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
68.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hugues
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hugues is Black at 68.5%. The next largest groups are White (28.9%) and Hispanic (1.3%). 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 Hugues 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 Hugues at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American68.5% · 318
- White28.9% · 134
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 3
- Two or more races0.6% · 3
Popularity
Hugues: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hugues from the 1980s through to the 1990s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 5 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
Hugues 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 Hugues 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 Hugues
The name Hugues is derived from the Germanic name Hugo, which is composed of the elements hug (meaning "heart, mind, or spirit") and wald (meaning "rule"). The name ultimately comes from the Old Frankish language, spoken by the Franks, a West Germanic tribe that inhabited parts of modern-day France, Belgium, and the Netherlands during the early Middle Ages.
The name Hugues is the French form of the name Hugo and was widely used in medieval France. One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Hugues Capet, who reigned as King of France from 987 to 996. He was the founder of the Capetian dynasty, which ruled France until the French Revolution in the late 18th century.
Another notable figure in history with the name Hugues was Hugues de Payens (c. 1070–1136), a French knight who co-founded the Knights Templar, a powerful Catholic military order during the Crusades. The Knights Templar played a significant role in the defense of the Holy Land and the protection of Christian pilgrims.
In the realm of literature, Hugues de Saint-Victor (c. 1096–1141) was a influential medieval philosopher, theologian, and writer. He was a leading figure in the Scholastic movement and wrote extensively on various subjects, including theology, philosophy, and mysticism.
The name Hugues was also borne by several notable figures in the arts. Hugues Sambin (c. 1520–1601) was a French sculptor and architect known for his intricate woodcarvings and furniture designs, which exemplified the French Renaissance style.
Hugues Merle (1823–1881) was a French painter and illustrator who specialized in historical scenes and portraits. He was a member of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and received numerous commissions from the French government and the Catholic Church.
While the name Hugues was particularly popular in France and other parts of Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it has since become less common but still retains its historical significance and cultural associations.
People
Hugues + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hugues 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
Hugues: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hugues?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hugues 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 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Hugues a common name?
We classify Hugues as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hugues most popular?
The single biggest year for Hugues was 1985, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hugues is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hugues in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 464 people with the name Hugues, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,757 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 Hugues 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 Hugues?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hugues appears almost entirely male. Of the 467 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Hugues?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hugues is Black at 68.5%. The next largest groups are White (28.9%) and Hispanic (1.3%). 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 Hugues most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Hugues in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.5% (318 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 Hugues in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hugues a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hugues 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 Hugues still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hugues 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 Hugues 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 are named Hugues?
Want to know how many people share the name Hugues? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.