Handy
Handy was last recorded in 2016, when 5 babies were given it; 543 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 2016 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Handy by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Handy mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Handy is “a male given name from English.”
Originating as a nickname for a handy person.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Handy?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #12,893, in 2016; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
16 babies in 1916, the peak
Handy peaked in 1916, when 16 boys were given it, #1,887 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 5 | #12,893 | 2.6 |
| 2005 | 7 | #9,467 | 3.5 |
| 2003 | 5 | #11,505 | 2.5 |
| 1994 | 5 | #9,333 | 2.6 |
| 1981 | 8 | #4,684 | 4.5 |
| 1976 | 5 | #5,934 | 3.2 |
| 1974 | 5 | #5,509 | 3.2 |
| 1964 | 6 | #3,782 | 3.0 |
| 1961 | 6 | #3,793 | 2.8 |
| 1959 | 8 | #3,121 | 3.7 |
Every recorded year (64)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | 7 | #3,368 | 3.2 |
| 1956 | 7 | #3,336 | 3.3 |
| 1955 | 7 | #3,308 | 3.4 |
| 1953 | 5 | #4,030 | 2.5 |
| 1952 | 8 | #2,956 | 4.1 |
| 1951 | 8 | #2,935 | 4.2 |
| 1949 | 13 | #2,162 | 7.3 |
| 1948 | 6 | #3,455 | 3.4 |
| 1947 | 9 | #2,750 | 4.9 |
| 1946 | 10 | #2,467 | 6.2 |
| 1945 | 12 | #2,046 | 8.9 |
| 1944 | 9 | #2,529 | 6.6 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,054 | 5.1 |
| 1941 | 8 | #2,738 | 6.5 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,109 | 10.8 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,319 | 5.8 |
| 1935 | 8 | #2,802 | 7.7 |
| 1934 | 9 | #2,632 | 8.7 |
| 1933 | 5 | #3,866 | 5.0 |
| 1932 | 10 | #2,528 | 9.6 |
| 1931 | 12 | #2,250 | 11.5 |
| 1930 | 11 | #2,508 | 10.0 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,249 | 12.1 |
| 1928 | 5 | #4,385 | 4.5 |
| 1927 | 5 | #4,434 | 4.4 |
| 1926 | 12 | #2,477 | 10.8 |
| 1925 | 14 | #2,240 | 12.5 |
| 1924 | 14 | #2,285 | 12.4 |
| 1923 | 8 | #3,281 | 7.3 |
| 1922 | 16 | #2,087 | 14.7 |
| 1921 | 10 | #2,875 | 9.1 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,172 | 14.1 |
| 1919 | 16 | #2,011 | 16.3 |
| 1918 | 10 | #2,764 | 9.9 |
| 1917 | 9 | #2,828 | 9.7 |
| 1916 | 16 | #1,887 | 18.0 |
| 1915 | 13 | #2,105 | 15.3 |
| 1914 | 8 | #2,522 | 12.2 |
| 1913 | 6 | #2,624 | 11.7 |
| 1912 | 9 | #1,800 | 20.9 |
| 1910 | 8 | #1,250 | 41.2 |
| 1909 | 5 | #1,555 | 30.5 |
| 1908 | 6 | #1,286 | 38.9 |
| 1904 | 7 | #1,009 | 54.6 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,206 | 40.8 |
| 1896 | 6 | #1,036 | 50.2 |
| 1894 | 5 | #1,152 | 43.2 |
| 1892 | 10 | #708 | 81.9 |
| 1891 | 5 | #1,023 | 49.4 |
| 1888 | 10 | #672 | 82.7 |
| 1884 | 6 | #901 | 52.4 |
| 1882 | 5 | #999 | 44.0 |
| 1881 | 7 | #741 | 69.5 |
| 1880 | 5 | #970 | 45.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Handy a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Handy has been given almost only to boys: 5 girls in 65 years of records.
Girls and boys named Handy: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Handy, and how old are they?
An estimated 128 Americans named Handy and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (24% of everyone recorded); the median is 70 years old and half are between 45 and 78. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 431 people named Handy (65 women and girls, 366 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 159 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.7 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Handy
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Handy and names like it
- Compare Handy and AdelbertBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sHandy peaked in 1916.
- North Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Handy since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Handy: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1916The year the most babies were named Handy.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Handy alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with HMost given first.