Hymie
A diminutive form of the name Hyman, derived from the Hebrew name Chaim meaning "life".
Name Census estimates that about 8 living Americans carry the first name Hymie. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hymie today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hymie births was 1917 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hymie. 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 Hymie. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
8
~ 1 in 42,844,292 Americans
Peak year
1917
11 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2017 SSA rank
#13,004
Tracked since 1912
Census
Hymie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 115 people with the first name Hymie, which placed it at #51,185 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
#51,185
National first-name rank
People counted
115
115 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hymie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hymie is White at 51.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.7%) and Black (7.8%). 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 Hymie 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 Hymie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.3% · 59
- Hispanic or Latino28.7% · 33
- Black or African American7.8% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.0% · 8
- Two or more races5.2% · 6
Popularity
Hymie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hymie from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 57 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hymie 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 Hymie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hymies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hymie
The given name Hymie originated from the Hebrew name Chaim, which means "life" or "alive." It was a common name among Ashkenazi Jews from the Middle Ages onwards. The name's roots can be traced back to biblical times, as it's derived from the Hebrew word "chai," which means "living."
Hymie is an Anglicized version of the Yiddish name Chaim, which was widely used in Eastern European Jewish communities. As Jews migrated to various parts of the world, the name underwent slight modifications to adapt to different languages and cultures.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hymie can be found in historical records from the 16th century. During this period, the name was commonly used among Jewish communities in Poland, Lithuania, and other parts of Eastern Europe.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Hymie. One of the earliest examples is Hymie Jacobson (1904-1986), an American boxer and actor who appeared in numerous films during the 1930s and 1940s. Another notable figure was Hymie Weiss (1898-1926), a notorious American gangster and bootlegger during the Prohibition era in Chicago.
In the world of sports, Hymie Silverman (1908-1972) was a Canadian ice hockey player who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1930s. Hymie Caplin (1918-1988) was a Canadian politician who served as a member of parliament and a cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s.
One of the most famous individuals with the name Hymie was Hymie Weitzman (1912-1996), a Canadian businessman and philanthropist who founded the popular shoe company "Foot Locker" in the 1940s.
While the name Hymie was more prevalent in the past, particularly among Jewish communities, it has become less common in modern times. However, it remains a part of cultural and historical significance, reflecting the rich diversity of names and their origins.
People
Hymie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hymie 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
Hymie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hymie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hymie 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 42,844,292 US residents.
Is Hymie a common name?
We classify Hymie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 24.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 113 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hymie most popular?
The single biggest year for Hymie was 1917, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hymie is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hymie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 115 people with the name Hymie, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #51,185 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 Hymie 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 Hymie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hymie appears almost entirely male. Of the 113 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Hymie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hymie is White at 51.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.7%) and Black (7.8%). 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 Hymie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hymie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.3% (59 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 Hymie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hymie a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hymie 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 Hymie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hymie 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 Hymie 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 Americans are named Hymie?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.