Hye
Feminine Korean name meaning "vast" or "graceful".
Name Census estimates that about 63 living Americans carry the first name Hye. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hye today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hye births was 1993 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hye. 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 Hye. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
63
~ 1 in 5,440,545 Americans
Peak year
1993
10 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
1999 SSA rank
#15,282
Tracked since 1948
Census
Hye in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,765 people with the first name Hye, which placed it at #5,955 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
#5,955
National first-name rank
People counted
2.8K
2,765 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
98.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hye
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hye is Asian/Pacific Islander at 98.2%. The next largest groups are White (1.0%) and Two or More Races (0.4%). 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 Hye 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 Hye at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander98.2% · 2,714
- White1.0% · 27
- Two or more races0.4% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino0.2% · 6
- Black or African American0.2% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Popularity
Hye: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hye from the 1940s through to the 1990s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 22 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
Hye 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 Hye during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hyes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hye
The name Hye is believed to have originated from the Armenian language and culture, with roots dating back to ancient times. It is a variant spelling of the name Hayk, which is derived from the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation, Hayk Nahapet.
In Armenian mythology, Hayk Nahapet is described as a brave and skilled archer who led his people in a victorious battle against the Babylonian king Bel. The name Hayk is thought to be related to the Armenian word "hayr," meaning "father" or "forefather," reflecting the significance of this figure in Armenian history and tradition.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Hye can be found in ancient Armenian manuscripts and historical chronicles dating back to the 5th century AD. One notable example is the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi, who mentioned the name Hayk in his work "History of Armenia" written in the 5th century.
Throughout Armenian history, the name Hye has been borne by several notable individuals, including:
1. Hye the Great (unknown birth and death dates), an Armenian princess and warrior from the 4th century AD, known for her bravery in defending her kingdom against invaders.
2. Hye Artzruni (950-1021), an Armenian scholar and theologian who made significant contributions to Armenian literature and philosophy during the medieval period.
3. Hye Vartanian (1896-1924), an Armenian revolutionary and member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, who played a crucial role in the Armenian national liberation movement against Ottoman rule.
4. Hye Ghukasyan (1923-2005), an Armenian artist and painter renowned for her vibrant and expressive works depicting Armenian culture and landscapes.
5. Hye Avetisyan (born 1982), a contemporary Armenian writer and poet, whose works explore themes of identity, memory, and the Armenian diaspora experience.
While the name Hye has its origins in Armenian culture, it has also been adopted and used in other regions and languages over time, although its historical significance and meaning remain deeply rooted in Armenian tradition and heritage.
People
Hye + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hye 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
Hye: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hye?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 63 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hye 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 5,440,545 US residents.
Is Hye a common name?
We classify Hye as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 72 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hye most popular?
The single biggest year for Hye was 1993, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hye is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hye in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,765 people with the name Hye, or 0.92 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,955 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 Hye 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 Hye?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hye leans strongly female. 2,704 people counted with this name were female (98.0%), compared with 56 male bearers (2.0%). 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 Hye?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hye is Asian/Pacific Islander at 98.2%. The next largest groups are White (1.0%) and Two or More Races (0.4%). 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 Hye most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Hye in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.2% (2,714 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 Hye in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hye a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hye 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.
Is Hye still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hye 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 Hye 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 Hye?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.