Hunter
One who pursues and captures prey or game.
Name Census estimates that about 267,514 living Americans carry the first name Hunter. It sits at #128 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (94.9% of registrations). The average person named Hunter today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hunter births was 2000 (13,252 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hunter. 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 Hunter with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
268K
~ 1 in 1,281 Americans
Peak year
2000
13,252 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#128
Tracked since 1880
Census
Hunter in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 230,190 people with the first name Hunter, which placed it at #244 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
#244
National first-name rank
People counted
230K
230,190 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
76.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hunter
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hunter is White at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.0%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Hunter 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 Hunter at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.3% · 198,715
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 11,559
- Two or more races4.9% · 11,325
- Black or African American1.7% · 3,868
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 2,382
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 2,341
Gender
Gender distribution for Hunter
Hunter leans heavily male at 94.9% of total registrations, but 14,056 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Hunter as a male name
- Ranked #128 in 2024
- 2,831 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (12,538 births)
Hunter as a female name
- Ranked #881 in 2024
- 306 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (997 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hunter leans strongly male. 218,829 people counted with this name were male (95.1%), compared with 11,364 female bearers (4.9%).
Popularity
Hunter: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hunter from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 98,427 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hunter 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 Hunter during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hunters live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Hunter, while District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5,261 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hunter
The name Hunter has its origins in the Old English word "huntere", which derived from the Proto-Germanic word "huntojan". This word was used to refer to someone who engaged in the activity of hunting, typically for food or sport. The name's roots can be traced back to around the 5th century AD in areas populated by Anglo-Saxon tribes in what is now known as England.
The name Hunter gained popularity during the Middle Ages, as hunting was a common pursuit among the nobility and the landed gentry. It was often used as an occupational surname for those whose primary role was to hunt game for their lords or employers. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which lists a person named "Huntor" living in Lincolnshire, England.
Throughout history, the name Hunter has been associated with individuals who excelled in hunting or were passionate about the sport. One notable figure was Robert Hunter (c. 1285-1330), a Scottish huntsman who served under King Robert the Bruce and was known for his skills in tracking and hunting deer. In the 16th century, John Hunter (c. 1550-1615), an English hunter and forester, gained fame for his expertise in hunting and wildlife conservation.
The name Hunter also has religious significance, particularly in the Christian tradition. In the Bible, the Book of Genesis mentions Nimrod, who was described as "a mighty hunter before the Lord" (Genesis 10:9). This passage has often been interpreted as a reference to his skill in hunting or, more broadly, as a symbol of strength and prowess.
During the Renaissance period, the name Hunter was associated with the pursuit of knowledge and intellectual curiosity. One notable figure was William Hunter (1718-1783), a Scottish anatomist and physician who made significant contributions to the fields of obstetrics and anatomy. Another prominent individual was John Hunter (1728-1793), a Scottish surgeon and naturalist who is considered one of the founders of modern scientific surgery.
In the 19th century, the name Hunter gained popularity in the United States. One notable bearer was David Hunter (1802-1886), a Union general during the American Civil War, who played a crucial role in several campaigns against the Confederate forces. Another famous Hunter from this era was Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter (1809-1887), a prominent American politician who served as a U.S. Senator and Confederate Secretary of State during the Civil War.
People
Hunter + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hunter 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
Hunter: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hunter?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 267,514 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hunter 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 1,281 US residents.
Is Hunter a common name?
We classify Hunter as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 273,451 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hunter most popular?
The single biggest year for Hunter was 2000, when 13,252 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hunter is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hunter in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 230,190 people with the name Hunter, or 76.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #244 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 Hunter 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 Hunter?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hunter leans strongly male. 218,829 people counted with this name were male (95.1%), compared with 11,364 female bearers (4.9%). 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 Hunter?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hunter is White at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.0%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Hunter most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hunter in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.3% (198,715 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 Hunter in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hunter a male name?
Yes, 94.9% of people registered as Hunter 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 Hunter still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hunter 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 Hunter 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 called Hunter?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.