Hyacinth
A masculine name derived from the Greek hyakinthos, relating to a flower.
Name Census estimates that about 459 living Americans carry the first name Hyacinth. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hyacinth today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hyacinth births was 1920 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hyacinth. 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.
People living today
459
~ 1 in 746,741 Americans
Peak year
1920
29 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,801
Tracked since 1894
Popularity
Hyacinth: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hyacinth from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 162 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Hyacinth remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hyacinth 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 Hyacinth during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hyacinths live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, Illinois, Texas recorded the most babies named Hyacinth, while Texas, Illinois, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hyacinth
The name Hyacinth has its origins in Greek mythology and is derived from the Greek word hyakinthos, meaning the flower hyacinth. According to legend, the beautiful youth Hyakinthos was accidentally struck and killed by Apollo with a discus. From his blood spilled on the ground, the first hyacinth flower sprang forth.
The name Hyacinth was used in ancient Greece, with the earliest known recorded example being Hyacinthus, the name of a Spartan hero and lover of the poet Orpheus in the 5th century BC. The name later spread to the Romans, who adapted the spelling to Hyacinthus.
Hyacinth is mentioned in various ancient texts and literature, including the works of the Greek poets Homer and Ovid, who depicted the tragic story of Hyacinthus and his transformation into the hyacinth flower. The name also appears in early Christian texts, as Saint Hyacinth was a 13th-century Polish Dominican friar and priest.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Hyacinth. One of the earliest was Hyacinthus of Sparta, a young man admired for his beauty and intelligence, who lived in the 6th century BC. Another was Hyacinthus of Messene, a Greek sculptor from the 5th century BC known for his works in bronze.
In the Middle Ages, Hyacinth Crispi (1170-1237) was an Italian monk and preacher who founded the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominican Order. The Polish priest Saint Hyacinth Odrowąż (1185-1257) was a prominent missionary and founder of the Dominican Order in Poland.
During the Renaissance, Hyacinth Rigaud (1659-1743) was a renowned French portrait painter who became a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris. In more recent times, Hyacinth Batalion (1897-1977) was a Polish-American chemist and academic who made significant contributions to the field of organic chemistry.
People
Hyacinth + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hyacinth 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
Hyacinth: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hyacinth?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 459 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hyacinth 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 746,741 US residents.
Is Hyacinth a common name?
We classify Hyacinth as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 951 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hyacinth most popular?
The single biggest year for Hyacinth was 1920, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hyacinth is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Hyacinth a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hyacinth in the SSA data are female. 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.